tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47228369164435025192017-08-17T21:28:41.362-04:00Man in Overallsaka Nathan Ballentinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16405520658427459713noreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-46428228279324336902017-08-14T12:35:00.001-04:002017-08-17T19:49:34.762-04:00Man in Overalls- #GrowInYourFrontYard #GrowYourGroceries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_PCyZV_NG0/WY8shn58J0I/AAAAAAAAGvM/79p3r0d9HckYc478sgWtBzRxpuEQeXOOgCLcBGAs/s1600/20170718_100717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_PCyZV_NG0/WY8shn58J0I/AAAAAAAAGvM/79p3r0d9HckYc478sgWtBzRxpuEQeXOOgCLcBGAs/s400/20170718_100717.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>I grow my groceries in my front yard.<br /><br />I've been growing in front yards since I was eight years old.<br /><br />It started that way simply because that's where the best&nbsp;<a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2017/04/man-in-overalls-back-to-basics-what-you.html">sunlight</a> was, right out front. <br /><br />Let me ask, if you're honest, where's your best sunlight?<br /><br />For, I'd say, 90% of Americans with yards, their best sunlight is in the front yard.<br /><br />"Yeah, <i>but</i>..." I hear a lot of people say, "...if <i>I</i> planted it out <i>there</i>, people would take my tomatoes!" Like their neighborhood is <i>especially</i> prone to vegetable thieves. Like, maybe there is a <i>vegetable-eating gang</i> of young people that roams their streets, who they're afraid to talk about. (Which, if you do have a vegetable-eating gang in your neighborhood, please <a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com">tell me</a> about it because I definitely want to meet these kids!)<br /><br />Anyway, as I was going to say: if you're afraid to grow in your front yard where you've got good sun, and you instead choose a protected (albeit shady) spot, you won't grow much at all, so you won't have to worry about people stealing anything. Voila, perfect. Theft averted!<br /><br />But, I was in the middle of a story. Let me back up.<br /><br />Because I grew a vegetable garden in the front yard as a child, I became known as "that kid who gardens on the corner."<br /><br />I never had anything stolen out of my garden as a kid. But it was in a "quiet" <i>suburban</i> neighborhood. And there was no sidewalk. <br /><br />But then my elderly neighbor who had been campaigning for a sidewalk on our block for a decade finally got her wish. So then people walked right by my vegetable garden. And, as it happened, our street actually was a short-cut between the "projects" and a shopping mall. So guess what happened after the sidewalk was built?<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uYTc_Q0pCUY/WY8or63hqiI/AAAAAAAAGvA/nrCfLG2sOFQ9wM5RXkCa82kC43esD9qggCLcBGAs/s1600/P1010317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uYTc_Q0pCUY/WY8or63hqiI/AAAAAAAAGvA/nrCfLG2sOFQ9wM5RXkCa82kC43esD9qggCLcBGAs/s320/P1010317.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>...I got to know more of my neighbors, plus some folks who walked through. And, I learned that food gardens are one of the best icebreakers for meeting people, learning recipes, and hearing stories about other people's families. And, still, no one ever stole anything.<br /><br />Well, there was that one time around Thanksgiving, during the 2008/9 financial collapse when -- I can't remember, did I tell somebody they could pick some greens?-- someone harvested three collard plants down to the nubs, seemingly in the middle of the night. So, I lost like $3 of collard greens. Maybe. Meanwhile I had another 50 plants laden with greens that went untouched.<br /><br />But, after all, that was in a suburban neighborhood. <br /><br />In 2011, my wife and I moved near downtown into a duplex, our first home. Our landlord allowed us to build and grow a garden, and the best sunlight was, again, in the front yard. So, there we grew.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jef_EfKdiTU/WY8tXeDJK-I/AAAAAAAAGvY/lrdqchJ-bg0bgXxNcalFXSyP39rzUxM-QCLcBGAs/s1600/2011-10-18%2B16.43.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jef_EfKdiTU/WY8tXeDJK-I/AAAAAAAAGvY/lrdqchJ-bg0bgXxNcalFXSyP39rzUxM-QCLcBGAs/s320/2011-10-18%2B16.43.32.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There was heavy foot traffic on a sidewalk across the street, and a long, <i>long</i> red light stopped people immediately in front of our food garden for minutes on end. My wife and I weighed and recorded everything we harvested for the sake of research. Out of our 80-square-foot raised bed food garden, we harvested 390lbs of veggies and herbs in 9 months. (Here's a little <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2012/01/man-in-overalls-grows-150lbs-of-food-in.html">press release</a> my friend wrote up about that garden.) We think, but aren't sure, that someone took a single head of lettuce.<br /><br />Next, in order to be close by <a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/">TFN</a>'s&nbsp;<a href="http://igrow-whateveryoulike.weebly.com/">iGrow</a> Whatever You Like youth farm, we moved to "D-Block," a section of a neighborhood that was the "hood" by most definitions: boys walked the street who were probably selling; ladies walked the streets who were, also, probably selling (something different); one of our neighbors regularly ran down the street playing imaginary football with himself.<br /><br />Nevertheless, by this time, we realized that not only did front-yard food gardens afford the best sunlight and, therefore, productivity, and give us a great way to meet our neighbors; front-yard gardens also permitted us to see and tend our food garden in small easy ways almost daily,&nbsp; so weeds couldn't sneak in, nor could produce go bad before we noticed it ripening. (This deserves it's own post, so stay tuned). So, once again we planted in the front yard, right by the street (both inside &amp; outside the chain-linked fence).<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-skbzqp-JeSc/WY880sn3cFI/AAAAAAAAGvo/TbvTa0_jqL8f7ni_kJXf0t2Z-G7pwga4gCLcBGAs/s1600/528%2BDunn%2BStreet%2Bcropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="1566" height="256" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-skbzqp-JeSc/WY880sn3cFI/AAAAAAAAGvo/TbvTa0_jqL8f7ni_kJXf0t2Z-G7pwga4gCLcBGAs/s320/528%2BDunn%2BStreet%2Bcropped.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I remember one day when I was out pulling carrots and cutting lettuce for dinner, bent over, back to the street. These two big guys came walking up on me; I just caught them out the corner of my eye; they'd kind of snuck up on me. I had that sinking feeling like "Oh s***" as I slowly stood up and pivoted to face them. And you know what happened?<br /><br />This guy, the bigger one, he smiles, the glasses on his face rise on his cheeks and he said, "Evening, how you doing? It's a cool thing you're doing with the garden. I like it."<br /><br />I don't believe we had a single snap pea taken from our garden in the hood.<br />- - -<br /><br />So, as you might imagine, when we moved to Jacksonville, FL because, as is usually the case, our best sunlight was in the front yard, and since we wanted our groceries growing "in-sight and in-mind," and because we wanted to get to know our neighbors, we, once again, decided to grow our groceries in the front yard.<br /><br />This past week, someone took a bush full of habeñero peppers, a definite disappointment because our buddy, Chad, had planned to make hot sauce. But, to keep things in perspective, the loss of the habeñeros brings our total lifetime losses up to about a full $10.&nbsp; In 25-ish years of growing our groceries in front yards we have harvested, conservatively, $10,000 of produce. My household has eaten its fill, and we've given hundreds of pounds away to friends, family, neighbors, passersby, and food pantries. Easily $10,000, maybe more. Any loss pales in comparison to the bounty of our front-yard food gardens.<br /><br />So, I'll say it again...<br /><br />#GrowYourGroceries<br /><br />#GrowInYourFrontYard<br /><br />#GrowYourCommunity<br /><br />#GrowYourFaithInHumanity But moreso, just<br /><br />#<a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2017/04/man-in-overalls-back-to-basics-what-you.html">GrowWhereTheSunShines</a>, please.<br /><br />For your own sake as well as for the sake of that gang of vegetable-eating teenagers in your neighborhood.<br /><br />- - -&nbsp; <br /><br /><div><img class="CToWUd" height="96" src="https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ncF1L-fDuJZIcwqDLY9wHuf42y_hFA6MuUMXbYXQeftFvIF9ZTZxAzQ4y-OhUeeVcsLYuigzpPhjYQy9QdbDNiejrnUzR3E4JkLJVP_hE_0YktnzKvqUQcB4Voa1JaD79Q8e98A3b4Xk6lPwdXOs2U3xHU2p0qGt5RQPtCII8DzOVD3am1jDR4hGYCDHYG7Ud3_3WVTOsLTEedE=s0-d-e1-ft#https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&amp;id=0B4_5aRigTlioTVJ3SnJiWDNqUlU&amp;revid=0B4_5aRigTlioM2ZwaForVTVTTFNWd3FBYjF5L0o5Y3pzV1d3PQ" width="72" /></div><div>Nathan Ballentine (<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1502995020744000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEmmvsQ9Qmxyrog1dY9JlP2n48eog" href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Man in Overalls</a>)</div><div>Urban Farmer, Entrepreneur, Educator, Community Organizer</div><div>Growing in Jacksonville, FL<br />Connecting globally</div><div><br /></div><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://facebook.com/maninoveralls&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1502995020744000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEEHzYj9HHQqJcVg8m3VR7yE4UT6Q" href="http://facebook.com/maninoveralls" target="_blank">Man in Overalls on FB</a><br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1502995020744000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEmmvsQ9Qmxyrog1dY9JlP2n48eog" href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a> - <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/about-us.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1502995020744000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEpXKnCFx6s4j-sZ6x7J3atF7MdlQ" href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/about-us.html" target="_blank">About</a> <span style="font-size: small;">- <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/services.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1502995020744000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGWINSxqPwJuO5yxppcxC_iUkIjlg" href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/services.html" target="_blank">Services</a> - <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/projects.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1502995020744000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFcTsTaUxGYHROxryTGVERHbIY5KA" href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/projects.html" target="_blank">Projects</a> - <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/resources.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1502995020745000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTauWhT7uNM5AhApBWmMubhUB1ng" href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/resources.html" target="_blank">Resources</a></span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"></span><br /><div>--</div><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">If you would like to</span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"> receive my "semi-monthly" blogs by email, which i</span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">nclude a story and food gardening tip</span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">&nbsp;please&nbsp;</span><a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;" target="_blank">email with subject line "Count Me In."</a>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-61534478309358764892017-07-20T21:32:00.000-04:002017-07-21T09:49:00.353-04:00Man in Overalls - Back to Basics: What You Need to Know to Grow, The Big Picture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p9iUsZfIBUo/WXFNXPOtVeI/AAAAAAAAGe8/yJRW6x6ZZzorCTB-cYfZjF9TIoKRRmPqQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5944.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p9iUsZfIBUo/WXFNXPOtVeI/AAAAAAAAGe8/yJRW6x6ZZzorCTB-cYfZjF9TIoKRRmPqQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_5944.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>After making sure you've got <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2017/04/man-in-overalls-back-to-basics-what-you.html">adequate sunlight</a>, the next two things necessary for food gardening success -- as any kindergartner can tell you-- are good soil and, you guessed it, water. These are your food growing basics: sunlight, soil, and water. <br /><br />However, before I jump into talking about soil, which I'll do in my next post, let me take a step back. You see, I've realized that I could draft a book by writing it a blog-post at a time. Originally I had conceived this "What You Need To Know To Grow" series as several blog posts about sunlight, soil, and water-- with "sequels" about how to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plq1jN6mF58">plant</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4_5aRigTliobnE5dlM1VUcxQ0k/view?usp=sharing">deal with pests</a>, what/when to harvest. Not more than 5-6 posts in total.<br /><br />But then I thought: rather than stop there, <i>what if</i> I expanded beyond the basics to share my own "bigger picture" perspective that helps ensure my food gardening projects are bountiful &amp; successful in a holistic sense?&nbsp; ...my secret food gardening recipe so to speak.&nbsp; And, of course, in keeping with my style, I'd plan to share stories &amp; personal experiences to give you something to anchor the facts onto.&nbsp; <b><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSen3RJSnNzAftjZwCjMnNNWN6A2P9nyqsp3EREEn6jjTMVUEA/viewform?usp=sf_link">What do you think? Should I do it?</a></b><br /><br />To give you a sneak preview of this possible "What You Need to Know to Grow" book, here's an outline sketch: <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tvk4S2rm9C4/WXEbjjB9pkI/AAAAAAAAGeM/0VrqmvqX05E9sbr4pHZZah6kRpMHNQA5wCLcBGAs/s1600/20170413_102217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1273" data-original-width="1600" height="317" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tvk4S2rm9C4/WXEbjjB9pkI/AAAAAAAAGeM/0VrqmvqX05E9sbr4pHZZah6kRpMHNQA5wCLcBGAs/s400/20170413_102217.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>In short, as I approach any food garden project, this is my triple-lens through which I think about things: <i>agriculture</i>, <i>nature</i>, and <i>people</i>. Any successful food garden project requires a synergy between these three elements. <br /><br /><i>Agriculturally</i>, you need to have sunlight, good soil, and adequate water. It's also helpful, of course, to know the technical basics like how to plant. Regarding <i>nature</i>, at a minimum, you need to plant in season. Also, knowing about your existing soil, adapting your practices to the regional climate &amp; terrain, and attracting beneficial insects will make you more successful and your work easier. Finally, it's essential to consider the <i>people</i> you're trying to engage (even if that's just you). What do they like to eat? Where is the kitchen? Is the food garden space inviting? How easy is it to maintain?<br /><br />Say you get your grand-kids excited about growing a garden (<i>people</i>), and you were a successful gardener up north (<i>agriculture</i>), so you just do what you did there. But things go wrong: your lettuce gets eaten up by bugs, and your tomatoes yellow and die right before your eyes. What happened!? It turns out the climate and seasons are entirely different in the Deep South compared to the North, so you planted at the wrong time of year. Whoops! You forgot about <i>nature</i>. If on the other hand, say you're a great <i>agriculturalist</i>-- even if you integrate <i>natural</i> principles-- you may end up with an uninviting food garden in the far recesses of your backyard full of produce that no one recognizes or will eat.&nbsp; And, ultimately, since no one feels any real benefit, it will go neglected, be overtaken with weeds, and then, finally, be mowed to the ground. You forgot to think about <i>people</i>.<br /><br />Let me share a story.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iEkEMwepaAI/WXERJGU84bI/AAAAAAAAGeE/I1pgS8h3oYUM_LLCKr8r0c_OGQGmbzEWACLcBGAs/s1600/Orange%2BAve%2BApts%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="604" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iEkEMwepaAI/WXERJGU84bI/AAAAAAAAGeE/I1pgS8h3oYUM_LLCKr8r0c_OGQGmbzEWACLcBGAs/s320/Orange%2BAve%2BApts%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In 2009 right as I <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/search/label/Man%20in%20Overalls%27%20First%20Post">launched</a> my food gardening business, I volunteered extensively with a nonprofit to assist a community elder in starting a community garden in a subsidized housing community (in other, less gracious terms, in the "projects"). It was exciting! It was vision of abundance in the midst of a food desert! Tons of kids in the neighborhood- okay, maybe a dozen- came out to join the day we built and planted the garden. In the following weeks, everything grew great because the team of day-of volunteers had brought in great compost, planted things in season, and we kept things well watered in the weeks that followed.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OJw00Ei8KBE/WXERJP0rQLI/AAAAAAAAGeI/0CZyZT1LqZYe8VsKJuiMLOCpSIC4Wk2aACLcBGAs/s1600/Orange%2BAve%2BApts%2B3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="604" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OJw00Ei8KBE/WXERJP0rQLI/AAAAAAAAGeI/0CZyZT1LqZYe8VsKJuiMLOCpSIC4Wk2aACLcBGAs/s200/Orange%2BAve%2BApts%2B3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>However, after that initial build day (and one more when volunteers planted a bunch of fruit trees), very few people were involved other than Mr. Oliver and I. A few kids ventured over to join us when we were pulling weeds from time to time, but generally it was just the two of us. I got to know folks in the neighborhood hoping to find and cultivate interest in participating, but they saw the garden as "Old Man Oliver's Garden."&nbsp; As the red chard grew one foot then two feet tall and the spinach plants were beautifully abundant (but no one touched or harvested any of it), I started asking friends in the neighborhood if they wanted some of the produce. "Oh, chard, you say? Oh, <i>that's</i> what that is. I've been wondering. Never heard of it. It's like <i>spinach</i> you say? What's spinach? ...Why don't y'all grow some things that people around here know? Like collard greens and mustards."<br /><br />I share this story because it's an oft repeated story in the community gardening world. Between us volunteers, we had the agricultural knowledge, and we worked with nature so far as growing in season and planting flowers that attracted beneficial insects. We also had lots of "one-time" volunteers, but the most important people, the community residents themselves had not been considered, consulted, or engaged from the beginning, so the success of the whole community garden project was compromised. (Don't worry. It wasn't a complete "failure," but it certainly wasn't as successful as it could or should have been.)<br /><br />It takes all three<i> (agricultural</i> best practices, <i>natural</i> systems and cycles, and engaging <i>people</i> "where they're at") to make for a successful food garden project -- be it a community or school garden, an edible landscape, or simply a raised bed or a patio container garden. Like a fire which requires heat, fuel, and air, a food garden can't be wonderfully successful over the long term without paying attention to all three of these key elements: ag, nature, and people.<br /><br />Next up, let's talk about soil.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cy-5WqsPK60/WXFVrmkI30I/AAAAAAAAGfM/MXd2U62GWcwSMYxAxw9mF5bcR0-QrPvvACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5294%2B-%2Bedited%2BCut%2Bout.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1361" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cy-5WqsPK60/WXFVrmkI30I/AAAAAAAAGfM/MXd2U62GWcwSMYxAxw9mF5bcR0-QrPvvACLcBGAs/s200/IMG_5294%2B-%2Bedited%2BCut%2Bout.png" width="170" /></a> <br />#GrowYourGroceries - I'll help!<br /><br />Nathan, Man in Overalls<br /><div>Urban Farmer, Entrepreneur, Educator, Community Organizer</div><div>Growing in Jacksonville, FL<br />Connecting Globally</div><br />Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-86004709537764865832017-06-07T19:41:00.002-04:002017-06-08T01:30:10.161-04:00Man in Overalls - Cafe/Market/Farms: A Growing DreamIt's time I let you in on a dream of mine. It's not fully formed, but neither can it still be understood merely as ingredients in the figurative kitchen cupboard. I think of it as a loaf of bread, not yet baked but certainly mixed and rising. In looking back at my notes, it's a dream I've been workshopping and mulling over for more than two years, a dream born out personal experience and travel, books and conversations. It's a dream shared in parts and pieces (and separately conceived of) by a growing number of people. And, though I am not certain of the path to get there, I'll be walking the road (and building it where necessary) with others bound for the same vision.<br /><br />Here's a rough sketch to whet your appetite: <br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i-VZd8Du3V4/WTh9-rVZnfI/AAAAAAAAGHU/cUGnOrm90VQQkmYRPqDMkRfjXu8MSX8QgCEw/s1600/20170607_180400-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1223" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i-VZd8Du3V4/WTh9-rVZnfI/AAAAAAAAGHU/cUGnOrm90VQQkmYRPqDMkRfjXu8MSX8QgCEw/s400/20170607_180400-1.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>My take on this shared dream draws from a mix of personal sources:<br /><ul><li>2010, I <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2010/01/other-food-gardeners.html">met</a> City Farm Boy in Vancouver. He was growing veggies for 50 families on 8000 square feet (i.e., 1/5th acre). All his customers lived within 1/2mile of his house; most walked to pick up their weekly produce box. This stands in contrast to the current models of local food that rely on farmers driving 5 to 10 to 50 miles into town and 50 customers all driving 2 to 10 to 20 miles to the farmers' market, which-- though better than <a href="http://www.cuesa.org/learn/how-far-does-your-food-travel-get-your-plate">1500</a>-- still amounts to a lot of miles. My other takeaway from Vancouver was the number of families he was feeding, 50. Living with my folks at the time, there were 900 households in their neighborhood. At 100% market penetration, that's 18 farmers in a single neighborhood! (Just for vegetables!) Ok, 100% is never reasonable, but what about 5%? That's roughly one micro-farm in each major neighborhood. <b>I'm dreaming of "corner farms" as prevalent as McDonald's.</b></li><li>As I reflect on my experience in <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2012/10/igrow-dunn-st-youth-farm.html">cultivating</a> Tallahassee Food Network's iGrow Whatever You Like youth farm, I carry a few things with me. First, communities are hungry for beautiful, productive urban agriculture spaces. We had folks who would stop by on their commutes to/from town just to "walk through the garden." Ironically, second, we had a hard time shifting people's life and habit patterns to make veggie purchases at iGrow. Neighbors would walk and drive right by our youth farm on their way to the store to pick up items we grew. Takeaway: to be successful, we have to integrate other habit patterns into any urban ag business model. Think dog walking, morning coffee, socialization, prepared food purchases. <b>I want to capture the atmosphere of a community coffee house but put it in the midst of a beautiful, productive urban farmscape. </b>Lastly, iterating a space, program, and business model in partnership with all involved (youth leaders, neighbors, volunteers, and customers) proved to be an awesome way to develop a model that worked and was supported all, and, interestingly, is in sync with <a href="http://theleanstartup.com/principles">lean</a> startup practices that rely on early/ often customer feedback.</li><li>A few years ago, I stopped through <a href="http://growingpower.org/">Growing Power</a>, the flagship "community food center" urban farm in Milwaukee. They sold not only fresh produce, but other grocery basics like milk and eggs, which makes for a multi-purpose food stop. <b>We've got to sell more than produce.</b></li><li>In 2015, my wife Mary Elizabeth and I <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/06/visit-to-mondragon-coop-of-coops.html">visited</a> the Mondragon Federation of Cooperatives in NW Spain. The big takeway was their "multi-stakeholder" cooperative model, which is the ultimate expression of reconciling and drawing from the expertise of the constituencies necessary to run a boomingly successful business. <b>It takes workers, customers, investors, and community-- all of us collaborating and working in sync to thrive-- and there's already a democratic business structure model for how to do it profitably. </b></li></ul><span style="font-size: large;">Here's the dream in a nutshell: </span><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">A cooperatively-owned chain of cafe-market-farms</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Think the atmosphere of a community coffee house, but take away the building and replace it with a Parisian brick-patio cafe space shaded by a grape arbor-- in the midst of a beautiful, intensively productive community farm. The model's core will include a production mini farm that grows for the super-local market, providing a 1-hour or less harvest-to-delivery freshness; a cafe serving prepared food, ideally hot food, smoothies at a minimum; a mini-market with farm-fresh produce complimented with organic "commodity" items like onions and potatoes plus grocery basics like milk and eggs; the space will also serve as base of operations and education for an expanded food gardening business that helps people grow their groceries the easy way (in their own spaces) -- in keeping with my current business model. </span><br /><br />Imagine neighbors taking their evening dog walk here.&nbsp; Can you imagine grabbing your morning coffee or meeting friends for a smoothie? The cafe will serve dinner without a million choices, but instead a daily offering or two based on the farm's bounty. The question will be "how hungry are you?"-- instead of a menu with 47 choices to make. It'll be like going to a friend's for dinner, and the simple menu will keep prices down. I want folks stopping through to buy fresh bread sourced from a local bakery, gardening classes for kids, cooking workshops that start with harvesting veggies right behind them; I see a crew heading out to build food gardens at area homes and businesses. And I see one of these cafe-market-farms in all major neighborhoods. Each cafe-market-farm will be organized as a semi-autonomous (multi-stakeholder) cooperative that brings workers, customers, and community supporters to the table. Autonomous, but not alone, each cafe-market-farm will benefit by affiliation with the others by sharing best practices in a "learning network" and synchronized back-of-the-houses. The cafe-market-farm coops will invest 10% of their profits into a "pay it forward" model to financially capitalize additional cafe-market-farms and invest 5-10% into the community as a way to reciprocate to the community for its patronage. We start in Jacksonville with the flagship, get the single cafe-market-farm model tight, expand to several across town, get the coop-of-coops model tight, and then head down I-10 with it all the way to Houston. <br /><br />There are plenty more details of the dream that's emerging and more roots most especially the partners and collaborators. Some of us overlap in our ideas almost completely, others less so; some of us are already working together, others not yet or in fledgling ways, but allow me to name some folks in Jacksonville with whom I'm excited to be talking and mutually supporting in the urban ag (&amp; good food) arenas: Betty Burney, Laureen Husband, Karen Landry, Kevin Anderson, Diallo Sekou, Allen Skinner, Angela Tenbroeck, Corey McNair, Melissa Beaudry, Valerie Hermann, Don Justice, Ju-Coby Pittman, Sylvia Powell, Ingrid Mathurin, Teena Anderson. Thank you all for advancing my thinking and for doing what you do that inspires us all towards the greater good food vision. I look forward to working with these folks, those to whom they're tied, and <b>many</b> more.<br /><br />--And, while I'm dreaming, if my cafe-market-farm dream is a tree (so to speak), perhaps even a cluster of trees, there's a <i>forest</i> idea to go along with this dream, but I'll leave that for another time. For now, I'll leave you with a sketch of a possible cooperative structuring for you to consider. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HcK9SOL98W0/WTh-FOh2tmI/AAAAAAAAGHU/HTU4PUHVpgg2GbjNcS9LOHczQzlxqE1iACEw/s1600/20170607_182143-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="1600" height="255" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HcK9SOL98W0/WTh-FOh2tmI/AAAAAAAAGHU/HTU4PUHVpgg2GbjNcS9LOHczQzlxqE1iACEw/s400/20170607_182143-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Allow me to close with a food gardening tip:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7xecmI8HjPQ/WTiHeUKL79I/AAAAAAAAGHw/UcD9hOK3CcwEazyrIEJpbpmuHxJBjqphACLcB/s1600/20170607_190609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7xecmI8HjPQ/WTiHeUKL79I/AAAAAAAAGHw/UcD9hOK3CcwEazyrIEJpbpmuHxJBjqphACLcB/s320/20170607_190609.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've long used 5/8" rebar cut to 6'8" lengths to stake my tomatoes. If you prune the suckers, like I explain in this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9vXZ8J36iw">How-To video</a>, you can grow tomatoes very close together in order to maintain order and achieve a much higher overall yield/space than a single tomato plant in a cage that inevitably escapes and grows all over the place. But that's old news. What's new are <a href="http://www.amleo.com/adc-bands-uv-treated/p/VP-AXXX/">these amazing ties</a> I just found (in the picture). They loop back on themselves, and save tons of time compared to using tie tape, string, or cutting strips of old rags, like I did as a kid. Worth checking out.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">If I can help you #GrowYourGroceries, <a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com">let me know</a>.</div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-6973567201871353722017-04-13T18:01:00.002-04:002017-04-13T20:03:50.433-04:00Man in Overalls - Back to Basics: What You Need to Know to Grow, Part 1<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sunlight, y'all. You need sunlight to #GrowYourGroceries.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sunlight, like this:</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gzuJewBz2w0/WO_k_ZIRlKI/AAAAAAAAFOs/a7opUWh4gK0u-_Qr-b9tS60C5EXlQ1UugCEw/s1600/IMG_7270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gzuJewBz2w0/WO_k_ZIRlKI/AAAAAAAAFOs/a7opUWh4gK0u-_Qr-b9tS60C5EXlQ1UugCEw/s400/IMG_7270.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This, on the other hand, is <b>not</b> a "nice spot" for your food garden:</span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8uEVplIDVNQ/WO_mFiBUohI/AAAAAAAAFO0/1GOPdZBXQaEb4Dp6wQjoCCP_0NNvCdELwCLcB/s1600/Treaty%2BOak%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8uEVplIDVNQ/WO_mFiBUohI/AAAAAAAAFO0/1GOPdZBXQaEb4Dp6wQjoCCP_0NNvCdELwCLcB/s320/Treaty%2BOak%2Bcopy.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Photo courtesy James Willamor</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yes, I jest, but only because I've encountered, truly, countless people for whom either hope springs eternal or who, honestly, struggle to understand the connection between food garden productivity and sunlight. Namely, food crops (with, noted, a few exceptions) do not yield without at least 4-5 hours of <i>direct</i> sunlight. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let me give you the scenario. It's the same story every time. It happened years ago when I launched my food gardening business, and it happened, literally, last week. I show up for a food garden consultation or dream session to take a look, offer edible ideas, and answer questions. Or, then again, maybe I'm there to install a raised bed or simply to deliver a load of my Magic Mix. I knock on the door, and I'm warmly welcomed. Then, promptly, either through the house or around the outside via a side gate, I'm shown to the back yard. The front yard had adequate sunlight. Immediately outside their backdoor, the sunlight was still, at least, <i>marginal</i>, but we don't stop there. "Here!" they say, "Right here!" we've walked into the dark recess of their backyard, a forest more or less, often under a giant oak tree. "I want to put the garden here because I can't get the grass to grow."</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">To be fair, often the spot they select <i>does</i> get <i>some</i> direct sunlight, an hour or two, <i>maybe</i>, through the gaps between several trees. Or, perhaps, their pecan tree hasn't leafed back out in the spring, and so, temporarily, it seems the spot will have plenty of sunlight for their garden. So, perhaps it's not the lack of understanding that food crops need sunlight to produce. (Okay, probably :). But, maybe, folks don't know how to calculate how much sunlight will shine on a spot without having to hang around all day and take notes. If that's your situation, keep reading.</span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><style></style><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To check your available light, track the arc of the sun from horizon to horizon, then divide it into 12 segments. Each is roughly one hour. Along the arc, how many clear segments are there? Another way to think about this is to “guesstimate” the fraction of the sun’s arc that’s open to the sky, then multiply by 12.&nbsp; For example, if the eastern horizon is entirely clear, but there's a house to the west, that's half a day's sun: 1/2 x 12 = 6hours. Or, more likely, you have trees or shrubs on both sides of your lot, so only one third of the sun’s arc is open to the sky above your garden site: 1/3 x 12 = 4 hours of sunlight. &nbsp;Note: the sun always dips towards the south (moreso in winter, less in summer), so trees, tall plants, and buildings will cast a longer shadow (to the north) in December than in June.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">If that still doesn't make sense, call me, and, if you're in NE FL, I can <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSlQRcLlI0cA_UzX4DidepZQ0TKOW7cQbSIQbiQHqMKxL_sw/viewform">come out</a> for a Food Garden Consultation to help you choose a spot for your garden, offer edible ideas, and answer all your other questions while we're at<span style="font-family: inherit;"> it.</span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-35189912223896901762017-03-15T16:38:00.000-04:002017-03-15T16:47:02.506-04:00Man in Overalls - Back to Basics: What to Do When it Freezes in N FL<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VcunM4KzMkE/WMmjbkrFu-I/AAAAAAAADuY/TqcWJDxDlqcxSEnAdJjgzKfSLt7wdwR3wCLcB/s1600/IMG_9321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VcunM4KzMkE/WMmjbkrFu-I/AAAAAAAADuY/TqcWJDxDlqcxSEnAdJjgzKfSLt7wdwR3wCLcB/s200/IMG_9321.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planning for Spring</td></tr></tbody></table>I'm writing this quick note to let you know about the <b>probable freeze tonight in north Florida</b>. Here's the short version: If you've got tender warm-season plants growing (think tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and the like), water thoroughly and then throw a sheet over your warm-season veggies &amp; tropical fruit trees (especially if they've only been in the ground 1-2 years). <br /><br />I can't count how many people I've met who have a complex about "killing plants" and who think, "I don't have a green thumb." What they don't realize is that anyone (EVERYONE!) who grows their own groceries is well-versed in killing crops (myself not-withstanding). Why do you think there are entire USDA funding streams for crop loss insurance and crop-loss loans? Even the best of farmers-- much less gardeners-- inadvertently kill things from time to time.<br /><br />On the topic of freezes, a few years back (2010 I believe), I was up late organizing a <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2010/01/indian-head-leigh-high-woodlawn-drive.html">kids food gardening workshop</a> when I suddenly remembered it was supposed to freeze that night. Being 11pm or midnight already, I googled the temperature and discovered to my chagrin that it was already 27 degrees outside! I had some beautiful lettuces I had intended to harvest, so I rushed outside with a knife and a flashlight. Sure enough, the lettuces were crispy and frozen. I cut the largest ones and hustled back inside where I attempted to "save" the frozen lettuces by thawing them in running water. They melted into a mushy slime like I'd thrown them in boiling water. Ruined! (Mind you, I did this after I had "<a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/search/label/Man%20in%20Overalls%27%20First%20Post">hung up my sign</a>" as they say. I was, at this point a "professional food gardener.")<br /><br />Resigned by my failure, I went to bed. The next morning, I went outside to inspect the rest of the lettuces (and other cold-season crops)-- expecting total crop failure. Much to my surprise, all the smaller lettuces (which I had not attempted to save!) had thawed slowly via sunlight filtered through the pine trees towards the east and had gone right on growing without a hitch: all fine! How did that happen!?<br /><br />And then I remembered: cold-season crops (see my "What Can You Grow in a Square" <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/resources.html">resource</a> for a list) are actually able to freeze solid and unfreeze (assuming the temperature isn't down past 25) and go on growing just fine. The trick is the thawing. If they warm up slowly, their cells do not burst. If, however, whether by a flash-unthawing by water or by overly-warm direct sunlight right at dawn, the plant's cell walls crack and burst resulting in a destroyed crop. This is a large part of the reason why farmers cover cold-season crops for freezes with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_cover">row cover</a>; it's not so much that it keeps their crops warmer (though it does, barely). The real value of row cover is that it slows the warm-up process, so the plants are not flash-melted by the warming dawn sunlight.<br /><br />But all that ^ is only about cold-season crops, which is not the cause of worry tonight. They'll be fine.<br /><br />Warm-season crops, on the other hand, are vulnerable to any and all temperatures under 32 degrees. So if you have crops growing late into the fall/winter (next year) or you've already put out spring plants and we get a late-season light spring freeze (like tonight)...<br /><ul><li>If you're close to the River or downtown/near lots of concrete or your garden is somewhat sheltered from the north or your garden is on a slope, you'll probably be okay, but just to be safe.... </li><li>On the other hand, if you're further from the urban core or your garden is in an open field or it has no protection from the north or your garden is in a low spot, you'll almost definitely get some freezing temperatures, so...</li></ul>Either way, <b>you should do at least the first of these two things</b>:<br /><ol><li>Water thoroughly before nightfall. Most freeze damage is caused by dehydration.</li><li>Cover the most vulnerable or most tender warm-season plants (and tropical fruit trees) with a blanket, buckets, or something else to keep a small insulated air pocket to protect your plants. (Don't worry about yet-to-sprout seeds. They're protected under the soil).</li></ol>If you're a visual learner, here's the same basic info in my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Y41SjQR3k">How-to video I did with the FL Dept of Ag</a>:<br /><br /><iframe width="375" height="213" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A1Y41SjQR3k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />#HappyGrowing<br />#GrowYourGroceries <br /><br />PS- if you (or someone you know) is interested in subscribing to my "<a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjLIRyUb273cuzScQgzilcIKxa0F8EeMhsE0W8j7FUq8gs9A/viewform?usp=sf_link">Overalls On Call</a>" seasonal Food Garden Tips, Advisories, and Q&amp;A Support by text, email, or video-- which will include&nbsp; advisories-- I'm going to be beta testing it with a handful of customers in the next few weeks. The price tag is $25/month. (If you're signed up for a maintenance plan, you'll get this included)Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-23236464879793635812017-02-10T09:18:00.004-05:002017-02-10T09:18:34.970-05:00Man in Overalls - How to Start a School Garden: Design<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Before you get to build your school garden like this,<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BZUFlhmY2sg/WJ3BLXeqZlI/AAAAAAAADkY/FYeC6MtfXuYnobs_dHJ7OW4CE8avxP8EgCLcB/s1600/12841412_792599340846151_5483743751737940098_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BZUFlhmY2sg/WJ3BLXeqZlI/AAAAAAAADkY/FYeC6MtfXuYnobs_dHJ7OW4CE8avxP8EgCLcB/s200/12841412_792599340846151_5483743751737940098_o.jpg" width="200" /></a> </div>before you can help kids get their hands dirty like this,<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nzDjiL1VWS0/WJzm9YvstKI/AAAAAAAADhs/o5G5qS5VC8gcRuT237Vbnva3VshvBdwgACLcB/s1600/IMG_2624.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nzDjiL1VWS0/WJzm9YvstKI/AAAAAAAADhs/o5G5qS5VC8gcRuT237Vbnva3VshvBdwgACLcB/s200/IMG_2624.JPG" width="200" /></a> </div>&nbsp;or teach kids in your school garden like this,<br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8g3RfqnGkY/WJzlHjjXRvI/AAAAAAAADhY/duQ9tZJmVtcZ-bymZB9M4BfCbO9Kb-MMACLcB/s1600/DSCN0045.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8g3RfqnGkY/WJzlHjjXRvI/AAAAAAAADhY/duQ9tZJmVtcZ-bymZB9M4BfCbO9Kb-MMACLcB/s200/DSCN0045.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>there are a few things you've got to take care of first.<br /><br />The #1 most important thing you've got to do is build your team. I say- with no exaggeration-- that <i>human infrastructure</i> is <b>THE</b> most important aspect of developing a successful school garden. But, I already wrote about building your school garden team <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2017/01/man-in-overalls-how-to-start-school.html">last</a> time. Assuming you're on track with that, a simultaneous step is to begin developing your<i> </i>school garden design.<br /><br />Here are a few things to should consider as you develop a school garden design:<br /><br /><u>Purpose</u><br /><ul><li>In your school garden interest meeting, one of the first questions you should ask is: "Why are you interested in a school garden?" Interestingly, this question serves two purposes. First, it helps the team gel because there will likely be a lot of overlap in answers. This will lend itself to a sense of shared purpose. Secondly, use these answers to guide your design-- with regard to size &amp; features as well as programmatic elements. For example, if teachers want to hold class in the garden, there should be an "outdoor classroom" aspect. Another way of saying this is that the best <i>physical</i> designs help<i> </i><i>programmatic</i> design dreams come to fruition. </li></ul><u>Existing Features, Life Flows &amp; Patterns </u><br /><ul><li>Where do kids run and play? Don't get in the way.</li><li>Where are the existing footpaths worn-down through the grass? That might be where your pathways should be-- but definitely not where your beds or fruit trees should go.</li><li>Is there a bench outside for student/administrator 1-on-1 conversations? Could it be incorporated into the garden?</li></ul><u>Location</u><br /><ul><li>Sunlight I. In order to grow, plants need sunlight. Food crops require 4-5 hours of direct sunlight as a bare minimum.&nbsp;</li><li>Sunlight II. Here in the northern hemisphere, the sun dips towards the south (moreso in winter, less in summer), so tall objects will cast shadows (to the north)-- especially in the winter.&nbsp; Think about this when locating your garden next to buildings, near trees, and when thinking about where to plant fruit trees or tall crops (like sunflowers). </li><li>Sunlight III. In Florida, given our extreme heat, if you have to choose, it's better to have morning sun and afternoon shade than the opposite.</li><li>Water. Is there a water faucet within 25-50ft of your food garden? If not, is there a way to get one installed?&nbsp; Are you going to run a micro-irrigation system? Be sure to leave a clear path if you need to run pipe underground for a new faucet. </li><li>Visibility. The more visible a food garden, the more successful it will be. Think "front yard," not "back yard." My personal raised bed food gardens are immediately next to my front sidewalk; therefore, I walk by my garden daily. When there are weeds, I pull them; it takes 10 seconds. When there is produce ready to pick, I see it. Whenever a garden is <i>out of sight,</i> it is <i>out of mind</i>; whenever one has to "go garden," they don't. Grow your school garden as close as possible to where you and the school community pass by every day. </li></ul><u>Beds &amp; Paths<b><br /></b></u><br /><ul><li>Paths, gates, etc. should be wide enough for a wheelbarrow to fit. If the paths will remain grass, be sure they are wide enough for your mower to fit. If you don't know how the grass is cut, ask facilities. (While you're at it, ask facilities if there is anything else you should know; any input they have. Their knowledge of school infrastructure, past events, how things get done, and the like is invaluable.)</li><li>Make sure the distinction between paths and beds is clear; this makes it easy for students &amp; visitors to walk through the garden without worry and without killing things. You can do this, for example, by building raised beds or by clearly mulching pathways with wood chips.</li><li>If you're building a garden for middle or high schoolers, the maximum width of beds should be 4 feet. For preschool and elementary school gardens, the max should be 3 feet. Why? Because that's the maximum distance that hands can reach from the sides of the beds without having to step into the garden beds, thereby saving your soil from compaction. (Length does not matter.)</li></ul><u>A few other things<b><br /></b></u><br /><ul><li>Start small. Any small, successful school garden can get bigger. On the other hand, school gardens that start off too big very rarely shrink; they fail.</li><li>Enclosure. If there is a way to do so, design the garden so you can go "into" it. Think gates, arbors, or fruit trees, grape vines outlining the space, or simply beds to outline entrances and the perimeter. Somehow, create a sense of enclosure so that when children are "in" the garden, they know it and feel it. </li><li><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjWoKqC0oTSAhWINSYKHVY8A2kQFggfMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sketchup.com%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNE5ICmOdhXpoXedL6vZ_tQbMWOzKg&amp;sig2=mUFQEUh1YO_RbSNH63Qysg">Google SketchUp</a> is a free design software. Watch a few SketchUp <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF001616C0ADF4245">YouTube tutorials</a> like I did, and you'll be able to create basic to-scale food garden designs within an hour or two.</li></ul>At the risk of going on too long, I'll leave you with two of my own school garden designs that I like enough to replicate. Feel free to use them as templates or jumping off places to inspire your own school garden design efforts.<br /><br /><u><b>Seminole Montessori Preschool Garden Design (Tallahassee)</b></u><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MwriG91FUkM/WJzlzgHnnZI/AAAAAAAADhc/GLYe0BVEmokMFZbBT2pufHkKZIkMkFyMACLcB/s1600/P4020012.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MwriG91FUkM/WJzlzgHnnZI/AAAAAAAADhc/GLYe0BVEmokMFZbBT2pufHkKZIkMkFyMACLcB/s320/P4020012.JPG" width="320" /></a> </div><ul><li>(4) 3'x3' raised beds with 3' pathways between all four beds in all directions</li><li>(2) trellises that inter-connect beds with arbor-isk arches. These serve as a structure for climbing crops like sugar snaps. They also provide a fun pass-through to give preschoolers the opportunity to "run through" the garden, especially once the crops cover the wire arches.</li><li>Garden is located in the playground field near-- but not in the way of-- other playground equipment and heavy traffic pathways.</li><li>When I was still in Tallahassee, I returned each season to work with the kids to top-dress the beds with fresh compost and to replant seasonal veggies. Week-in, week-out, the teachers helped preschoolers water, and they harvested veggies and incorporated them into their school snacks.</li></ul><u><b>Normandy Village Elementary Outdoor Classroom Garden (Jacksonville)</b></u> <br />We started our design effort at Normandy Village in the initial interest meeting comprising a couple teachers, the guidance councilor, principal, and a few students from their Leadership League. First, I asked "Why are you interested in a school garden?" Next I asked, "What do you imagine in or about the Normandy Village Elementary School Garden? What does your dream school garden look like? What ideas do you have?"&nbsp; I gave everyone a piece of paper, and asked them to take a few minutes to write or draw their answers. Then we shared with one another. Here are two examples:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WNs1hmCJStw/WJ25fGl__gI/AAAAAAAADj0/N6_qPPeUivUVhUGymqhUioNYpTM0_mYOwCLcB/s1600/20160209_095441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WNs1hmCJStw/WJ25fGl__gI/AAAAAAAADj0/N6_qPPeUivUVhUGymqhUioNYpTM0_mYOwCLcB/s320/20160209_095441.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RsFT0Rr0Kyg/WJ25fPIK7SI/AAAAAAAADj4/wN2SGFXzmtsBvjgbrshOs4qwqYSnkFqKACLcB/s1600/20160209_095458.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RsFT0Rr0Kyg/WJ25fPIK7SI/AAAAAAAADj4/wN2SGFXzmtsBvjgbrshOs4qwqYSnkFqKACLcB/s320/20160209_095458.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>As you can see from these two examples, there are both <i>physical</i> design ideas (fruit trees, garden boxes, "lots of color") as well as <i>program</i> design ideas (parent involvement, vegetables of the month).<br /><br />Before our next school garden team meeting, I took the many ideas generated by the school garden team and played with them in the context of the space the principal had selected. I took into account things like sunlight, water, existing features, where people walk, how to create a sense of enclosure, appropriate bed width, and the many other things above. Additionally, my wife, Mary Elizabeth, who teaches 8th grade, had-- the week before-- asked me to help her rearrange the desks in her classroom. As part of this, I measured her classroom length and width. It was 27x28 feet. As I was preparing the Normandy Village design, I thought, "Could I incorporate a classroom-sized open-space in which teachers could gather their classes in the midst of the garden?<br /><br />Here is my rough draft sketch:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GaEZGb-FVNc/WJ05f2ewpII/AAAAAAAADi0/Ms6Nanu6vwQafe-H_rIZSQwOCKrHzGuiwCEw/s1600/normandy%2Bvillage%2Bdesign%2Bsketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GaEZGb-FVNc/WJ05f2ewpII/AAAAAAAADi0/Ms6Nanu6vwQafe-H_rIZSQwOCKrHzGuiwCEw/s320/normandy%2Bvillage%2Bdesign%2Bsketch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notebook rough draft</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I sent this picture to the principal. She &amp; other members of the school garden team approved, so I committed it to Google SketchUp:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zATNNNOeV9M/WJ05KznJLzI/AAAAAAAADis/CQDeOGsIHMQtSYd5XYIhqcRo1hxljYprgCLcB/s1600/normandy%2Bvillage%2Bsketchup.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zATNNNOeV9M/WJ05KznJLzI/AAAAAAAADis/CQDeOGsIHMQtSYd5XYIhqcRo1hxljYprgCLcB/s320/normandy%2Bvillage%2Bsketchup.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Design to-scale via Google Sketchup</td></tr></tbody></table>Here is the day we built &amp; planted-- everyone together. (Remember the parent involvement?&nbsp; This is an example of enacted program <i>design</i>.)<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TVLDEO1eNMQ/WJ2-I8Ovo6I/AAAAAAAADkM/I60DyW3hN1gNTYQsuXskOXY7Zcd9VxWwgCLcB/s1600/12841349_792599484179470_5093568319385882953_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TVLDEO1eNMQ/WJ2-I8Ovo6I/AAAAAAAADkM/I60DyW3hN1gNTYQsuXskOXY7Zcd9VxWwgCLcB/s320/12841349_792599484179470_5093568319385882953_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />And here it is the "Normandy Village Outdoor Garden Classroom" two months later, just waiting on the grape vines to grow up the trellis and the fruit trees to fill out the space behind where a teacher would stand at at the front.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TCo5kL0Fawk/WJDbhZjPrSI/AAAAAAAADeg/-ZQqy0Sz4G8ATLOfXB9mItjMHHQoVp8igCLcB/s1600/20160407_153152.jpg"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TCo5kL0Fawk/WJDbhZjPrSI/AAAAAAAADeg/-ZQqy0Sz4G8ATLOfXB9mItjMHHQoVp8igCLcB/s320/20160407_153152.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">- - -&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you think a bit of support to launch -- or sustain-- your school garden would be helpful, give me a <a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com">buzz</a>. As I'm able (and you're in NE FL), I'm happy to participate in your school garden interest meeting or assess your space and offer my thoughts on your design. Should you want more committed assistance, let me know. It's what I do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One parting piece of advice: if you're filling raised beds, make sure you start with the best compost-based mix available. If you're in the Jacksonville area, I sell my Magic Mix at cost to school and community gardens. If you're in Tallahassee, <a href="http://facebook.com/igrowyouth">iGrow</a> is your go-to. If you are somewhere else, make sure that several long-time area gardeners vouch for the mix you'll be using. You'll thank yourself when the kids "Oooo" and "Ahhh."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Happy Growing</div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-42299723628569349742017-01-31T17:30:00.003-05:002017-01-31T17:42:03.855-05:00Man in Overalls - How to Start a School Garden: Build a Team<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pXTllyoXKtM/WJDaZke-d1I/AAAAAAAADeI/7uvlvt-iBKEXX9Q9Tnc3_44pUOfyXX6EwCLcB/s1600/886085_792599717512780_7519385018489212871_o.jpg"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pXTllyoXKtM/WJDaZke-d1I/AAAAAAAADeI/7uvlvt-iBKEXX9Q9Tnc3_44pUOfyXX6EwCLcB/s320/886085_792599717512780_7519385018489212871_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">&nbsp;You want<i> to teach kids where their food comes from</i> because <i>if kids grow it, they'll be more likely to eat it</i>, and since you hope<i> to improve kids diets, </i>offer a little <i>exposure to the natural world</i> and provide <i>outdoor, hands-on, STEM learning experiences</i>, or simply, you want child to have <i>an opportunity to care for something and learn responsibility.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So you want to start a school garden.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I understand. School gardens can be beautiful opportunities for schools to engage kids, parents, and community partners in a collective effort that spills over into all manner of benefit for kids, the school, and the community as a whole.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p8TatYGBxEY/WJDarW_38-I/AAAAAAAADec/6b1w5wneUHYuyqi_7wNEg7m_aFVhX_NxQCEw/s1600/IMG_2636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p8TatYGBxEY/WJDarW_38-I/AAAAAAAADec/6b1w5wneUHYuyqi_7wNEg7m_aFVhX_NxQCEw/s320/IMG_2636.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Regrettably, I've seen lots of school gardens grow into weedy plots that are ultimately reclaimed by turf grass. This is often the case in spite of inspiring community build days where 10, 20, 30 even 50 people come out to get a school garden started. I hear similar stories from <a href="mailto:Kristi.Hatakka@FreshFromFlorida.com">Kristi Hatakka</a>, Farm to School Garden Specialist with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). (They've got <a href="http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Food-Nutrition-and-Wellness/Administering-Your-Nutrition-Program/Farm-to-School/School-Garden-Resources">great resources</a> by the way, including the <a href="http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/41801/886147/Garden_Guide_No_Print_Lines.pdf"><i>School Garden Guide</i></a> that I wrote back in 2013, which they updated last year.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So you want to start a school garden. And you want it to succeed and continue growing into the future.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Basically there are two routes that lead to thriving school gardens: 1)Find the money, or 2)Build your team. Or, more simply: money or people.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In terms of money, it's rare but-- who knows-- maybe your school has extra cash on hand for a "beatification project," or maybe you're a fundraising genius and serve on the PTO board.&nbsp; With money in hand, you can hire someone like to me design, build, handle weekly maintenance, provide educational support to teachers, and otherwise facilitate your school garden.&nbsp; Sometimes, the money is in the hands of a local nonprofit that has a mission aligned with school gardening. Kristi with FDACS says that some of the most successful school gardens around the state have "a very active nonprofit or entity that maintains or works with a very active parent or two." This is a great model because teachers -- more often than not-- are simply stretched too thin to <i>make it happen</i> without a lot of external support. Exemplary school garden related nonprofits around the state include: <a href="http://peacepatch.org/">The Edible Peace Patch Project</a> (in Pinellas), <a href="http://www.memorytrees.co/">Memory Trees</a> (Palm Beach), <a href="https://www.educationfund.org/what-we-do/programs/edible-garden-initiative/">Miami Dade Education Fund</a>, <a href="http://www.keeptampabaybeautiful.org/">Keep Tampa Beautiful</a>, <a href="http://damayan.org/">Damayan Garden Project</a> (Tallahassee).&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But then, maybe you don't have money; there's no school garden nonprofit around; the nonprofits that do that sort of thing aren't taking on new projects, or they are only offering minimal materials grants or garden-build volunteers.&nbsp; That's not enough, so what do you do?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You build a school garden <i>team</i>: teachers, parents, kids, community partners, grandpa Jones, anyone... so long as they have some related interest.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When I help build school garden teams, I use an ABCD or <a href="http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/What%20isAssetBasedCommunityDevelopment(1).pdf">asset based community development </a>approach. In essence, this is the idea that everyone has assets to bring to the table, or more simply, <i>everyone has something to offer.</i> Everyone has things they <i>know</i> (skills, ideas, knowledge), things they <i>have</i> (time, tools, money, materials), and <i>connections</i> to other people and groups, which have assets of their own.&nbsp; This is the philosophy I take with me as I start talking with people about the idea of a school garden.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The flip side of the ABCD coin is that <i>everyone has a dream</i>. Unless there is an exchange, a sense that people are in someway getting something they want (out of participating), any sharing of their assets and participation or support of a school garden is going to be short lived. If you're going to effectively rally &amp; sustain a school garden team, you need to think like the below community garden partner map developed by the <a href="http://communitygarden.org/">American Community Gardening Association</a>. What does the school garden get? And what does the school garden team member get? It's got to go both ways.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K7YfD0k75nQ/WJEDgHZojiI/AAAAAAAADe0/pCBsjzeLGBUdo9zsX9-iHLUSEmRfdYYFQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-01-31%2Bat%2B4.06.59%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K7YfD0k75nQ/WJEDgHZojiI/AAAAAAAADe0/pCBsjzeLGBUdo9zsX9-iHLUSEmRfdYYFQCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-01-31%2Bat%2B4.06.59%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">With this in mind, let me stop while I'm ahead before I end up re-writing the entire <a href="http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/41801/886147/Garden_Guide_No_Print_Lines.pdf">School Garden Guide</a> I developed with FDACS. The guide will take you step by step through how to build a school garden team.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">[As an aside, if you're looking for inspiring school &amp; youth garden leaders here in NE Florida, you ought to know about S<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Success-Gardening-763457210429270/">uccess Gardening</a>'s work at First Coast High School, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Urban-GeoPonics-1785789208373002/">Urban Geoponics</a>'s New Town Urban Farm, YMCA's <a href="http://firstcoastymca.org/programs/health-wellness/seedifferently/">Seed Differently</a> program, the <a href="http://www.theeec.org/">Eastside Environmental Council'</a>s school garden projects, <a href="http://www.imastarfoundation.org/">I'm a Star Foundation</a>'s youth farm dream, and I hear there are many more. If you know of any impressive school or youth gardening efforts, please tell me, so I can keep learning.]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Let me close by offering you a magical question, one that has helped me build more teams and groups than I can count. When I'm trying to tease out whether someone might be interested in joining an effort or to see if they might be willing to offer some sort of support-- and to do so without putting them or guard and to provide them with an easy way out in case they aren't actually interested but don't want to disappoint me,&nbsp; I lead in with "So I was talking with so-and-so about the idea of starting a school garden here at _________. They said...." and then I ask, "Who else do you know who might be interested in the idea of a school garden?"&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Happy Growing.</div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-31910175551580819202016-12-05T13:53:00.000-05:002016-12-05T17:13:35.042-05:00Man In Overalls - Back to Basics: My Compost SystemComposting, they say, is an art form. But, truth be told, I'm just too lazy for all that. My own compost philosophy is, "Crap rots in the woods, doesn't it?"<br /><br />But really. :)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VxJX0_PQZ3g/WEWeXvF79nI/AAAAAAAADMs/CQAoLdKUpcEBv32oT5AXCPoTspjVcIuAACLcB/s1600/P8160026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VxJX0_PQZ3g/WEWeXvF79nI/AAAAAAAADMs/CQAoLdKUpcEBv32oT5AXCPoTspjVcIuAACLcB/s400/P8160026.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Whenever I think of home gardening systems, I always reflect back on my grandmother. She gardened up until the week she died at 93. She planted by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_astrology">signs</a> and assured me that's why her collards were not eaten up by bugs and were able to grow for 3 years running and up to 8 or 9 feet tall. She had a little rototiller, planted straight rows, mulched by spreading leaves to keep the weeds down. She threw out a little 10-10-10 from time to time and kept the cabbage worms at bay with Sevin dust. She hoed if the weeds called for it. But mostly, she harvested. Her pots were always full and her freezer always stuffed with produce: collards, mustards, turnips, peas, tomato gravy, squash, you name it.<br /><br />Now, I don't use 10-10-10 or sevin dust, and I'm not big on tilling. However, the thing I continue to take away from my granny was the simplicity of her systems. So, as I've developed my own composting system over the years, my primary aim is to keep it simple. Easy is the name of the game.<br /><br />Before I outline how I compost, I've got two disclaimers for you. First, backyard composting is exempt from regulations (at least at the state-level-- that I know about). If you're composting at scale for use in a market-garden or farm (from which you'll sell produce), you'll need to be mindful of the <a href="http://compostingcouncil.org/state-compost-regulations-map/">state guidelines</a> established to ensure sanitation, namely to turn your pile at least 5 times in the first 15 days, achieving an internal pile temperature of 140 degrees prior to each turn.<br /><br />My second disclaimer is that I compost primarily for the purpose of eliminating food waste from my trashcan. I hate the smell of rotting food; it is, as teenagers say, "Nasty!" Though I use the finished compost I generate for my fruit trees and at times in my raised beds, a perfect finished-compost is of secondary importance for me... primarily because my household need for finished-compost typically outpaces my capacity to generate material- no matter how "perfect" my system.<br /><br />So, enough waiting: Here's my compost system in 6 Steps:<br /><br /><b>#1 Food waste goes into a ceramic pot next to my sink</b>. (I've also used a plastic ice cream bucket, a tupperware, and glass bowl with a plate on it). Some people are compost vegans (by which I mean they only compost raw fruit and veggie scraps). I'm not. If it rots in the woods, it goes in.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WfGq2_TWUbk/WEWki8J_j0I/AAAAAAAADM8/-zFyYuXNfYsCd1yQjIm7dQVCmPQY3jfEQCLcB/s1600/20161205_095053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WfGq2_TWUbk/WEWki8J_j0I/AAAAAAAADM8/-zFyYuXNfYsCd1yQjIm7dQVCmPQY3jfEQCLcB/s320/20161205_095053.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><b>#2 Empty food waste into a wire basket immediately off of my back porch. </b>Notice the bottom layer of leaves.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sys4R8vZ0CU/WEWkuLDK5TI/AAAAAAAADNY/Jjg8SeJfOtAZ4ae2-OvDt5RqyPlFuCRSACEw/s1600/20161205_095544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sys4R8vZ0CU/WEWkuLDK5TI/AAAAAAAADNY/Jjg8SeJfOtAZ4ae2-OvDt5RqyPlFuCRSACEw/s320/20161205_095544.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>#3 Fill up compost bucket with water to rinse it out and pour waste water onto compost pile</b>&nbsp;to help keep the pile moist. (Sometimes I add the water when it's still full of food scraps to avoid a second trip from my sink).<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6l7uMgFTcsE/WEWkueJWl1I/AAAAAAAADNc/ePuHz4d9kOI-v9Oc1Q_2nJMHcQmKYA-xwCEw/s1600/20161205_095601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6l7uMgFTcsE/WEWkueJWl1I/AAAAAAAADNc/ePuHz4d9kOI-v9Oc1Q_2nJMHcQmKYA-xwCEw/s320/20161205_095601.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><b>#4 Add a handful of leaves on top of *every* container-full of food waste.</b> This covers the unsightliness of food waste. Also, if I consistently layer leaves atop every container-full of food waste, there is essentially no odor. The smell of rotten food in a compost pile is most-of-the-time due to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic">anaerobic</a> bacteria which thrive in mucky piles of wet food-on-food.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fChzjtPiIdc/WEWkn_fDmqI/AAAAAAAADNE/RzYIvqmX4aYHBVsZrRscZYumjkNZsdkdgCEw/s1600/20161205_095144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fChzjtPiIdc/WEWkn_fDmqI/AAAAAAAADNE/RzYIvqmX4aYHBVsZrRscZYumjkNZsdkdgCEw/s320/20161205_095144.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>(I keep leaves in a couple plant pots in the corner of my porch. I refill the plant pots about once a month, as necessary from bags of leaves I store in the corner of my yard).<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xw42DqnMXLk/WEWnJv3xwLI/AAAAAAAADNo/pgPTHwMVFWgnnuhsqidMhSxlLfwMWkfqQCLcB/s1600/20161205_123832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xw42DqnMXLk/WEWnJv3xwLI/AAAAAAAADNo/pgPTHwMVFWgnnuhsqidMhSxlLfwMWkfqQCLcB/s320/20161205_123832.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>#5 Once the food-waste and leaves fill up to the brim of my wire basket </b>(once or twice a year)<b>, I use a pitch fork or shovel to turn it into an adjacent wire basket</b> just a little further from my porch.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Smo7uhq9xc/WEWkpgwZcjI/AAAAAAAADNM/DJW-E4_1LtsruD3JNynRDVjv-LhgFHBqgCEw/s1600/20161205_095231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Smo7uhq9xc/WEWkpgwZcjI/AAAAAAAADNM/DJW-E4_1LtsruD3JNynRDVjv-LhgFHBqgCEw/s320/20161205_095231.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I usually pull the basket up, off the pile to make the shoveling easier. Turning mixes the relatively newer food waste near the top (which is still identifiable food scraps) with the more broken down material at the bottom of the pile. It also introduces a lot of air into the pile which helps <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic">aerobic</a> bacteria get to work. If the compost is moist like a wrung-out sponge, all I do it turn it. If it is dry and dusty/powdery as I'm turning, I'll water it a little. &nbsp;In 2-4 months, this pile will a)reduce in volume by about 1/3 to 1/2, and b)all but the very top and outside leaves will be decomposed finished compost. When I'm ready to use it, I typically pull the wire basket up and off, and rake away the exterior identifiable leaves. The rest is the good stuff.<br /><br /><b>#6 To keep the system going, I'll replace the original wire basket in place right off my porch and add a small bag of leaves at the bottom</b> to ensure breathability from the bottom of the pile.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mj5D5N-_v6U/WEWkn8Z6-hI/AAAAAAAADNI/x0xn7CS7xY4AEmw9H21DqxR7RpJZVy38gCEw/s1600/20161205_095212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mj5D5N-_v6U/WEWkn8Z6-hI/AAAAAAAADNI/x0xn7CS7xY4AEmw9H21DqxR7RpJZVy38gCEw/s320/20161205_095212.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>(Notice that my compost wire basket is just feet away from my porch table. If my compost was stinky, I certainly wouldn't place it so close to where I eat dinner.)<br /><br />Here are a few parting notes about...<br /><ul><li>Air and Water - The ultimate condition for aerobic bacteria (the "good guys" who <i>require</i> air, or, more specifically, oxygen) is a moist but airy environment like a wrung-out sponge. By the laziest methods possible, I maintain moisture by rinsing out my ceramic food waste container and dumping the waste-water on my pile, and I maintain air flow (or aerobic conditions) by layering food waste with leaves.</li><li>"Critters" - I have two cats, and, therefore, don't have a problem with rats. If I ever notice a problem, I'll create a top for my wire baskets out of hardware cloth, which will allow the rain to continue to fall into my pile. &nbsp;If I can't figure that out, I'll just put a piece of plywood on top.</li><li>Location - Like I said, I'm lazy. The closer the better. I don't want an extra chore, I want compost. That's why my pile is right next to my back porch. Also, if it's stinky, I can't ignore it, so I'm, most likely, going to fix the problem before my neighbors complain.</li><li>Odor - If your compost stinks, it's because there is not enough carbon or air. The solution to both of these is to get religious about adding leaves on top of every dump of food scraps.</li><li>Ants - If your compost has a a full-on ant bed in it, typically that's an indicator that your pile is too dry. Wet it down with the hose to start and then make sure you're adding your food waste container waste water to the pile each time you empty.</li><li>Weeds - I add garden scraps and weeds to my pile as well but only those weeds that a)have not made seeds and b)are not hell-froze-over-and-it-went-on-living type weeds. For instance, bermuda grass I literally throw in the middle of the road to kill it... the same goes for nut grass. Neither, God willing, will come anywhere near my compost pile-- ever!</li></ul>That's it! Happy Composting.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Should you want a more official backyard compost guide, check out &nbsp;<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4_5aRigTlioY2JmOGMyOGItYWEzNy00ZjIwLTgzNTItYWZhMmMzODM1YjFm/view">this one by Cornell</a>. And if you're on a compost-kick and need an expert, reach out to my <a href="http://www.compostcommunity.org/">friend</a> who operates his own composting business in Tallahassee. He does contract compost-pick up for homeowners, businesses, and for special events. I understand there's also a company named&nbsp;<a href="http://applerabbit.org/">Apple Rabbit Compost</a>&nbsp;in Jacksonville that is similar to my friend's if you want help composting in Duval.)</span>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-20924627605790617572016-11-08T19:31:00.000-05:002016-11-08T19:31:38.360-05:00Man in Overalls - #iVoted #iPlanted #GrowingInJax<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LsaIUVNWsEk/WCJt_QExhBI/AAAAAAAACt0/HyFflqbf2KYtDWXeCBYamUb0HxHmWOp6gCLcB/s1600/IMG_5294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LsaIUVNWsEk/WCJt_QExhBI/AAAAAAAACt0/HyFflqbf2KYtDWXeCBYamUb0HxHmWOp6gCLcB/s400/IMG_5294.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Happy election day! Here it is 7pm, Tuesday night on Nov 8th, election day. By the time many of you read this, we'll have elected a new President and a whole slate of candidates.<br /><br />Whether you're aiming to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain, proudly claim #ImWithHer, voting Stein or Johnson, or, for that matter, making a vote of no confidence; however the chips fall, now that the polls have closed, and votes have been cast, here's what I what to know:<br /><br />#HaveYouPlantedYet?<br /><br />We're living during a time when our children are forecasted to have a shorter life-expectancy than their parents, largely due to diet-related preventable diseases. An absurd portion of our available foods are <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-can-i-eat-bread-in-france-but-not.html">tainted</a> with roundup and other harmful chemicals. Food travels an average 1500 miles from "farm" to plate, migrant workers are mistreated and sometimes even enslaved, teenagers often don't know the first thing about how to cook, and our food-growing ancestors are growing older. So,<br /><br />#HaveYouPlantedYet?<br /><br />Last fall, my wife and I rooted in Jacksonville, the city of her birth, the city of my father's childhood. We purchased a home near downtown, and I spent the better part of this campaign season doing renovations. This fall, nearly a year after moving, we finally planted our own food garden. Around the edges, I've had the good fortune of connecting with Jacksonville good food leaders and Duval farmers and gardeners. It's also been my privilege to support Riverside Avondale Preservation, Sanctuary on 8th Street, and Normandy Village Elementary with their community gardens, and I look forward to working with the I'm a Star Foundation to develop their youth farm. It's what I do. <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/services.html">I <i>encourage and assist folks to grow food for self and neighbor</i></a>.<br /><br />#HaveYouPlantedYet -- Let me know if I can help. I'm happy to consult, design, install, maintain, educate, or simply answer a few questions to get you growing.<br /><br />#iVoted #iPlanted #GrowingInJax #ManInOverallsForDuvalFoodGardener #iHeartJaxNathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-89612572258100397572015-09-25T07:21:00.000-04:002015-09-25T22:03:17.808-04:00It's back to Collards and Cornbread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z1Higpb071M/VgGdnh1mR2I/AAAAAAAACSc/ls3TbLOEzlA/s1600/20150901_145740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z1Higpb071M/VgGdnh1mR2I/AAAAAAAACSc/ls3TbLOEzlA/s320/20150901_145740.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>After 16 months traveling, <b>Mary Elizabeth and I are Florida bound. Our home base will be Jacksonville</b>, and I look forward to rooting in a new community. I will, however, continue to support the good food work in Tallahassee. I remain on the board of <a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/">Tallahassee Food Network</a> (TFN). (This past year I served as TFN ambassador to connect with and learn from community-based good food efforts around the world.) More than remaining connected from afar, <b>I intend to be in town monthly for <a href="http://www.tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/#!collards/c1n3t">TFN's Collards and Cornbread Gatherings</a>, which means I'll be in Tallahassee on the 2nd Thursday of the month, 1:30pm, Oct 8th at TFN's iGrow Whatever You Like Youth Farm (514 Dunn Street). Will you join me?</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">On a side note: if you would like a food gardening consult, a garden built, or you are dreaming of a <a href="http://www.tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/#!how-to-start-a-community-garden/c7z7"><b>community garden</b> </a>in Tallahassee, or, of course, in Jacksonville, by all means, <a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com">send me an email</a>&nbsp;or ring me: 850-322-0749. To the extent that my ability and location allows, I'll jump right on it as fast as my overalls can carry me. <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/services.html">Encouraging and assisting folks&nbsp;to food garden</a>-&nbsp;though not the limit of my community food system development skills- is still a passion of mine. Now, back to the blog:</span><br /><br /><b>Tallahassee Food Network's board sent me as an ambassador to connect and learn, and did I!?</b> Below is a smattering of people and organizations I am privileged to have encountered:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kuMaKuh_f1M/VgGiC_sR3EI/AAAAAAAACTg/Q_A7lb_BhXU/s1600/20141103_153250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kuMaKuh_f1M/VgGiC_sR3EI/AAAAAAAACTg/Q_A7lb_BhXU/s200/20141103_153250.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br /><b>Matt Macioge with&nbsp;<a href="http://sustainablefoodcenter.org/">Sustainable Food Center</a></b><b>&nbsp;in Austin</b>.&nbsp;They have 30 staff who work in 3 departments: 1)Grow Local: Everything production including drought tolerant sustainable agriculture research, a "garden at every school" partnership with the district, and a community garden association. 2)Farm Direct: Everything distribution including 4 farmers markets that they manage, local food brokering between farmers and institutional buyers, and a possible future online farmers market (which of course, reminds me of Tallahassee's&nbsp;<a href="http://rhomarket.com/">RHOMarket.com</a>). 3)<a href="http://sustainablefoodcenter.org/programs/the-happy-kitchen">The Happy Kitchen</a>: Everything about consumption and education including a partnership to introduce a chef into all district schools and an educational kitchen that teaches groups and produces resources in both english and spanish.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Sligo, Ireland,</b>&nbsp;Tallahassee's Sister City. Driving down the highway in Ireland on the way to my grandfather's birthplace, not an hour away, we happened upon this sign saying that Sligo is "twinned" with Tallahassee, FL. Wild! We stopped in at City Hall to bring greetings and were able to connect with a few staff in the Local Enterprise Office. Additionally, we found a monument to "those who died and those who fled" the Potato Famine, of <i>The Great Famine</i>. 30,000 people-- folks similar to my grandfather-- emigrated from the port of Sligo. I emailed <a href="https://www.facebook.com/maninoveralls/posts/10153512225013839">pictures</a> to Ms. Whitaker in Mayor Gilum's office, and she- ever so sweet- promptly responded, "Nathan, what an awesome experience of "home away from home." I will share your email and picture with our Chief of Staff Dustin Daniels who also serves as the Mayor's Office Sister-City liaison. Be safe and enjoy the journey of learning more about your heritage. Thanks for sharing. You are a great representative of Tallahassee."<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s2-qudHZ8DQ/VgR-f1FDQAI/AAAAAAAACVE/Rfd8Wos2rRE/s1600/11825912_10153512220413839_5996942590041235314_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s2-qudHZ8DQ/VgR-f1FDQAI/AAAAAAAACVE/Rfd8Wos2rRE/s200/11825912_10153512220413839_5996942590041235314_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b><a href="http://www.justfood.org/blog/category/stories/2015-03-03/meet-barbara-turk-mayors-director-food-policy-just-food-conference">Barbara Turk</a>, NYC Mayor's Director of Food Policy</b>. We met at a talk she gave at Union <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Theological for the Faith Leaders for Food Justice group. Her program's 3 tiered priorities are developing policy and supporting efforts to ensure NYC's food systems will provide 1)enough food to eat (1.4 million New Yorkers are food insecure), 2)adequate nutrition, and 3)be sourced from just sources. There are o<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.32px;">ver 1700 urban gardens on public land: 800 on Housing, 700 on Park, &amp; 200 on School land. They produce 100K lbs of food annually.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.32px;">"I fight for urban gardens not just for the food, but for the community value. They are the cheapest way to build a community center, to promote intergenerational connections."</span>&nbsp;For more complete notes, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YVD_h3iwhHuLj7WREDqUl0ci7FLFNgkOYaxko3B9AP4/edit">click here</a>.</span><br /><div><br /><b>Craig Willingham with <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/living/shophealthy.shtml">Shop Healthy NYC</a></b>, a health dept. program that is a systems approach to encouraging healthier eating in NY neighborhoods. Craig's team works with <i>distributers</i> to help them note foods that meet health standards and connect them with marketing tools to promote those options. He works with <i>retailers</i>&nbsp;by providing technical assistance, store shelving that will better display healthy options, and by connecting them to distributors that sell healthy options. Lastly, Craig works with<i>&nbsp;community</i>&nbsp;by blanket marketing and encouraging neighborhood groups to support stores that have healthier options. Supply and demand side strategies. Here is an <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/pan/shop-healthy-implementation-guide.pdf">implementation guide</a>, <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/pan/adopt-a-shop-guide.pdf">adopt a shop guide</a>, and <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/pan/shop-sealthy-report.pdf">program report</a>.<br /><br /><b>Josette Bailey with <a href="http://www.weact.org/">We Act</a></b>, an environmental justice organization based in Harlem. Ms. Bailey and her team attended the Faith Leaders for Food Justice meeting. We Act was the first environmental justice organization to be founded in New York City. They joined together to address the institutionalized racism regarding the oft-repeated practice of locating environmentally hazardous sewers/dumps/plants/etc in and near black neighborhoods. For them, the catalyzing situation was a sewer. Ms. Bailey spoke up boldly that black neighborhoods don't need people coming in to "teach" them about healthy, economical eating. Folks are doing the best they can within the context of (often) working multiple jobs &amp; being faced with living in food deserts. She challenged the group to check any patronizing approaches to working on issues of food justice. We Act is starting a food coop and is looking for places to garden.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9OggF1QseVc/VgGdnshXC0I/AAAAAAAACTM/fM8JJ6hNjjQ/s1600/20150831_172123.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9OggF1QseVc/VgGdnshXC0I/AAAAAAAACTM/fM8JJ6hNjjQ/s200/20150831_172123.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>Wendy Stayte with <a href="http://www.transitiontowntotnes.org/">Transition Town Totnes</a> </b>(in S. England). While in Britain, Paul Beich, a partner from Tallahassee reminded me that the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3L9n20myqk">Transition Town Movement</a> originated in Totnes, so with the help of <a href="http://transitiontallahassee.org/">Transition Tallahassee</a>'s Rachel Walsh, I went digging. Wendy is active in Totnes' food group, specifically the "Incredible Edible Totnes" group which is: "an inspired bunch of people getting veggies and edibles growing in public and unused spaces in Totnes for the common plate."<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dg95X5zXTv4/VgLRvtWk4TI/AAAAAAAACUE/DNFuA2rR4TA/s1600/20150913_183654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dg95X5zXTv4/VgLRvtWk4TI/AAAAAAAACUE/DNFuA2rR4TA/s200/20150913_183654.jpg" width="200" /></a><b><a href="http://www.intervale.org/">The Intervale</a> in Burlington, VT</b>. It's an "agricultural ecosystem" of 350 acres that are home to 12 organic farms, a community garden, Vermont's largest composting operation, food and fuel production from agricultural waste, an educational center that hosts youth programs, the <a href="http://www.intervalefoodhub.com/">Intervale Food Hub</a>, and a <a href="http://www.gardeners.com/">garden center</a> (nursery). Collaboration and mutual support is all the more possible due to proximity.<br /><br /><b>Kathryn Scharf, Co-Founder&nbsp;<a href="http://cfccanada.ca/">Community Food Centres Canada</a></b>. CFCC works across Canada to cultivate community food centers, or "welcoming spaces where people come together to grow, cook, share, and advocate for good food." They combine 3 focuses: 1)food access, 2)food-skills, and 3)engagement. This looks like "dignifying" emergency food assistance (think family style, chef-prepared community meals, or no-line food banks) with training on gardening and/or cooking with community organizing &amp; advocacy training to give "individuals and communities voice and agency on hunger and food issues." Here's a list of their&nbsp;<a href="http://cfccanada.ca/good-food-organizations">80+ "Good Food Organization" Partners</a>&nbsp;that they have networked and amongst whom CFCC has facilitated organizational mentoring.&nbsp;CFCC's flagship community food center is profiled in the book <a href="http://cfccanada.ca/book">The STOP</a> by Nick Saul, their Director.<br /><br /><b>Laura Lengnick, author </b><a href="https://www.newsociety.com/Books/R/Resilient-Agriculture" style="font-weight: bold;">Resilient Agriculture</a>&nbsp;(&amp; my former professor at Warren Wilson College). Interested in the impact of climate change on sustainable agriculture, Laura captures the stories of farmers who have noticed temperature shifts and other "strange" changes in climate in their lifetime. She then shares the stories of how said farmers have adapted to floods, droughts and other changes.<br /><br /><b>Jessica Bonanno with&nbsp;<a href="http://democracycollaborative.org/">Democracy Collaborative</a>, </b>which was instrumental in establishing the<b>&nbsp;</b><a href="http://evergreencooperatives.com/" style="font-weight: bold;">Evergreen Cooperatives</a>&nbsp;in Cleveland that launched in 2009. Evergreen includes three for-profit worker-owned cooperative businesses whose major customers are "anchor" institutions (i.e., hospitals, universities, and other entities that are very unlikely to up-and-leave). There is a hydroponic operation to grow veggies (which is how I <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=417&amp;v=QCWjFZvkw4A">first learne</a>d about them), an industrial LEED Certified laundry, and a green energy/building contracting business. They employ a combined 100+ worker-owners. &nbsp;All three coops feed 10% of their profits into a nonprofit that works to expand asset-based economic development in Cleveland. Democracy Collaborative has great <a href="http://democracycollaborative.org/publications">publications</a> like this <a href="http://community-wealth.org/sites/clone.community-wealth.org/files/downloads/WorkerCoops-PathwaysToScale.pdf">Worker Cooperatives: Pathways to Scale</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://democracycollaborative.org/cwbpolicy">Policies for Community Wealth Building</a>. And FASCINATING: did you know they were hired by the former Mayor of Jacksonville to <a href="http://democracycollaborative.org/content/building-community-wealth-action-plan-northwest-jacksonville">report on cooperative business possibilities</a>?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1QlxZ09zPFk/VgRvvP8ivBI/AAAAAAAACUU/vBh53pdECpo/s1600/10156126_10153391898573839_5333336687576546035_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1QlxZ09zPFk/VgRvvP8ivBI/AAAAAAAACUU/vBh53pdECpo/s200/10156126_10153391898573839_5333336687576546035_n.jpg" width="110" /></a></div><b>Susan Sides, founder <a href="http://thelordsacre.org/">The Lord's Acre</a> in Asheville, NC</b>. Susan contacted me to share her dream and ask a couple questions five years ago when they were just starting out. Since then we've been in loose contact. I've kept hearing good things, so it was a joy to finally see their Acre that donates food to their local pantry, a sharing market, a community Welcome Table, and a chef training program for folks with barriers to employment. What a gorgeous, prolific place! They produced 9.5 tons of food last year alone! Susan shared that at their first harvest, they cheered as they gave away food to the first 70 people, but then realized, "We <i>should</i> celebrate when there are no more hungry people in our community." In this light, they garden &amp; give food away as a stop-gap measure; however, their "best yield," according to Susan, is bringing people together to work, thereby building relationships &amp; cultivating civil discourse around the need to affect the root causes of hunger.<br /><br />I also connected with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/maninoveralls/photos/a.154962073838.117222.131274843838/10153282138993839/?type=3">a former iGrow youth leader</a> in Germany, the <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/06/visit-to-mondragon-coop-of-coops.html">world's largest cooperative</a> in Spain, an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/maninoveralls/posts/10153374708723839">organic tea-growing farmer friend</a>&nbsp;in Virginia&nbsp;and her husband&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/maninoveralls/posts/10153506324608839">that makes local jam</a> for a living, a <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/">campesino organization</a> in Ecuador, several fair-trade, economic development&nbsp;<a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/03/many-expressions-of-food-movement-in.html">organizations</a>&nbsp;and a fantastic <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/02/rural-nicaragua-household-economy.html">community</a> in Nicaragua, just to name a few-- all of which I've already mentioned on my <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/">blog</a> or on my <a href="http://facebook.com/maninoveralls">facebook page</a>. Just click the links above.<br /><br />Connecting with new (and former) friends and learning about all the many ways that people are engaged in growing community-based good food systems was one of my favorite things about our travels. The models are organizational and individual, for-profit and for-purpose, agricultural and policy-oriented. What I love is that all of them build on their strengths and strive to support the ecology of other efforts in their networks. Speaking of which...<br /><br /><b>To close, I'll offer this food garden tip: Meet other food gardeners. Develop your ag network.</b><br />Stop when you see people in their gardens- even in you're driving (turn around!). Tell them that their tomatoes or collards or flowers are <i>beautiful!</i>&nbsp;Point and ask, "What's that?" Inquire about what they like to grow the most. Quiz them about when they planted this or that. Ask what their favorite source is for seeds. Inquire about why they grow or how long they've been gardening. Share about your love of growing food; your favorite crops, and about your squash that recently died without any warning. Ask if they know why. Offer leftover seeds. Tell them you're going to the nursery tomorrow, and do they need anything? You'll learn new varieties, new techniques. You'll find food garden answers and ideas that won't surface on google. You'll get free food. You'll hear family stories; your neighbors will become your friends. And your food garden will prosper.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XsBbvfxkts8/VgR1KPfnx2I/AAAAAAAACU0/HVqCW0-5V9Q/s1600/11987130_10153603018753839_8715194700351021754_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XsBbvfxkts8/VgR1KPfnx2I/AAAAAAAACU0/HVqCW0-5V9Q/s200/11987130_10153603018753839_8715194700351021754_n.jpg" width="110" /></a></div>Don't hesitate to <a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com">reach out to me</a> if you'd like me to come speak to your group, want support with a school or community garden, or, simply, have an idea you'd like to pass by me-- <i>especially</i> if you're in Jacksonville, but then again, I'll be in Tallahassee once a month :)<br /><br />Nathan, MIO<br /><br /><br /></div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-64080676945563673912015-06-25T21:37:00.000-04:002015-11-17T15:28:59.388-05:00Visit to Mondragon, THE COOP of Coops<div style="text-align: center;"><div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><br /><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153412434183839.1073741828.131274843838&amp;type=3" data-width="500"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153412434183839.1073741828.131274843838&amp;type=3">Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/maninoveralls">Man in Overalls</a> on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153412434183839.1073741828.131274843838&amp;type=3">Thursday, June 25, 2015</a></blockquote></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Mary Elizabeth and I have been back in the country for three weeks -- long enough to... &nbsp;attend a best friend's wedding in WNC; visit my <a href="http://www.fairweatherfarmers.com/pages/index.htm">herb-tea-farming</a> buddy, Rachel in Virginia; catch sunrise on the Brooklyn Bridge; go berry u-picking with friends and put my overalls to work shoveling at a community garden in the Philly area; participate in a <a href="http://divinity.wfu.edu/new-heaven-new-earth/regenerate/2015-fellows/">fellowship</a> at the Wake Forest Food and Faith Conference in Asheville, NC; blur through Jacksonville for my wife's high school 10-year reunion; and stop in Tallahassee long enough to learn about the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TallahasseeFoodNetwork/posts/578325758972275:0">iGrow Southcity Grand Opening happening 2:30pm, Friday, June 26th</a>. Folks, we've been on the move.</div></div><br />But what about Europe? We were there for two months. Other than <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-can-i-eat-bread-in-france-but-not.html">good, seemingly untainted bread</a>, what stood out?<br /><br />There was this coop in Spain... A network of coops. THE COOP of coops! I gotta tell you about it.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e6ojPp0UdBs/VYyE5RLLStI/AAAAAAAACNc/C-3--pCcPk4/s1600/20150529_104232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e6ojPp0UdBs/VYyE5RLLStI/AAAAAAAACNc/C-3--pCcPk4/s320/20150529_104232.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>It's called <a href="http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/eng/">Mondragon</a>. It's a "federation of worker cooperatives" based in the Basque (NW) region of Spain. It's comprised of 101 worker-owned cooperative businesses that pulled in&nbsp;<span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;">12 billion (yes, that's a B) Euros last year. They have 75,000 employees, most of whom are worker owners. Though there are coop model&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">parallels</span><span style="line-height: 1.2;">&nbsp;with our local&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/breadandrosesfoodcoop?fref=ts">Bread and Roses</a> and <a href="http://www.newleafmarket.coop/">New Leaf</a>, and coops&nbsp;<a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/03/many-expressions-of-food-movement-in.html">in Nicaragua</a>, this is a whole other ballgame. Our visit blew my mind!</span></span><br /><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;"></span></span> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2RNOszqmTHI/VYyavbzYrBI/AAAAAAAACOI/BFMSsWMu68k/s1600/20150529_121752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2RNOszqmTHI/VYyavbzYrBI/AAAAAAAACOI/BFMSsWMu68k/s200/20150529_121752.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A statue of&nbsp;Father&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Jose&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Maria&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Arizmendiarrieta,&nbsp;</span><br />Mondragon's founder</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #242424; line-height: 1.2;">With support from a local </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_Arizmendiarrieta" style="line-height: 1.2;">priest</a><span style="color: #242424; line-height: 1.2;">, they started with a worker-owned stove factory. In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, there wasn't a lot of capital to go around, and a local source of jobs in the Basque region, the stove factory was closing shop. So, five workers put up the initial money and, essentially, crowd-sourced (or "community-sourced") the rest to buy and reopen the factory. From that beginning, they've developed all manner of cooperatives.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;">They've got a bike manufacturing coop, a medical supplies coop, a restaurant industry supply coop, auto-manufacturing machines coop. (They make the tools that Detroit uses.) There's a cooperatively owned bank, an insurance coop, a dairy coop, a rabbit meat coop, a hydroponic vegetables coop, a cleaning-service coop, and a construction business coop. Not to mention research coops, and a university coop -- all, mind you, based in a small town in rural Spain.</span></span><br /><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;"></span></span><br /><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;"></span></span><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;">The coops practice networked-resource sharing. Let's say one of the (fully autonomous) cooperative businesses is in short-term cash-flow trouble. Say they've got a major order coming down the pipe in 4 months, but for the next 3 months, they're going to run 20million euro short of meeting payroll. Rather than close shop, they call up one of the other coops and say, "Could we borrow 20 million euros for the next three months?" <i>No problem.</i>&nbsp;When there are downturns in particular businesses, the worker owners are reallocated to other coops in the network. They haven't had to lay off a worker-owner in 60 years. They trade knowledge and partnerships. They combine leadership development and training efforts.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;"><br /></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xuEW_0UabVE/VYyjjgwi2eI/AAAAAAAACPQ/WLC86ejvVbU/s1600/20150529_103727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xuEW_0UabVE/VYyjjgwi2eI/AAAAAAAACPQ/WLC86ejvVbU/s200/20150529_103727.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Research Coop</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;">One of the coops is Mondragon Services Coop. This is, essentially, "Headquarters." They have 60 worker-owners on staff. Total. 75,000 employees, and they've got 60 worker-owners in headquarters! Wrap your mind around that. Their job is coordinating the networked resource exchanges amongst the coops. Ultimately: they facilitate relationships.</span></span><span style="color: #242424; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #242424; line-height: 1.2;">Also, they're charged with catalyzing new cooperative enterprises and spreading the cooperative model. &nbsp;</span><span style="color: #242424; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">They do what Tallahassee Food Network does at the scale of 12 billion euros annually.</span><span style="color: #242424; line-height: 1.2;">&nbsp;All the Mondragon coops pay 10% of pre-tax profits into a fund to capitalize* future coops. &nbsp;(*Mondragon invests approximately 300k-500k euros for every new job they create; more on money later).</span><br /><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">Another innovative aspect of Mondragon's coops are their leadership structures. This is where the parallels with US consumer coops or traditional farmer coops end because the former coop examples are typically single-side coops. (That will make sense in a second). All Mondragon's coops are ultimately lead and controlled by whoever are the major <i>stake</i>holders (not <i>stock</i>holders) in the business. So, for example, their grocery store coop, Eroski (one of the largest grocery chains in the country) is lead by a team of 8, 4 worker-owners and 4 customers members. These eight are elected by and answer to the Eroski general assembly, comprised of 250 worker-owners and 250 customers*. How do you make a bad business decision when the workers AND customers are both at the table? And did I mention power is divided between them 50/50!? They HAVE to reconcile differences. They HAVE to develop business models and practices that work for everyone. &nbsp;(*The customer delegates predominantly are drawn/elected from 20-member customer-advisory councils that every Eroski store has).</span></span><br /><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">Or take the university coop as another example. Their decision power is split three ways: 33% worker-owners, 33% end-users (in this case, students), and 33% community collaborators (such as business, government, and community-organization leaders). The institutions that desire skilled work forces are at the table with students and the people teaching and cleaning up after them. Organizational direction, spending priorities, and financial realities are faced in partnership. Imagine how things might shift if FSU and FAMU's boards of directors were so comprised?</span></span><br /><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CNzfJA2doH4/VYyjjxCV7cI/AAAAAAAACPM/bNDnICcNkio/s1600/20150529_135617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CNzfJA2doH4/VYyjjxCV7cI/AAAAAAAACPM/bNDnICcNkio/s200/20150529_135617.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mikel Lazamiz, Mondragon<br />Services Coop director of<br />cooperative diffusion</td></tr></tbody></table>The last thing I'll share for now are a few notes about Mondragon's relationship with money. Our host, the director of "cooperative diffusion" explained to us that in traditional capitalism, money has the power and labor is viewed as a factor in production, i.e., a tool to achieve the purposes of capital. In cooperativism, labor has the power and money is a tool used to achieve labor's purposes. (*It's a major flip from our way of thinking; however, lest someone throw me on a red-bangwagon: cooperativism is not communism. Communism is where the state owns the means of production, controls the economy and employes both labor and capital as tools to accomplish its own goals under the auspices of empowering its people.)<br /><br />So, if money is to be leveraged as a tool to achieve the dreams of workers, where does their seed money come from? &nbsp;Themselves. Always. When you start working in a Mondragon coop, the first year you are a "temporary" worker. At the end of that year, assuming you've got good reviews and you're interested in staying on, you've got 5 years to invest a years' salary in the company. It's a 15,000 euro pricetag to become a worker-owner. So, you've got to "cough." But granted, minimum wage in Spain is 9,000 euro, so you're more than 150% ahead annually compared to your typical starting job. Should you chose to bail, the coop keeps a 3,000 euro "entrance fee." &nbsp;So why join? Because the average rate of return over the past 60 years has been 4-7%, so your ownership investment will grow substantially-- and because membership is ownership, ownership is power. And, in this way, they say, "Everyone is an entrepreneur."<br /><br />I could go on, but I've long since lost most readers. If you want to learn all kinds of nitty gritty, check out this <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4_5aRigTliocFh1TTl0eXZvRmc/view?usp=sharing">powerpoint</a>. Also, you should know that <a href="http://evergreencooperatives.com/">Evergreen Cooperatives</a> is a US-based coop network modeled after Mondragon that's expanding rapidly in Cleveland.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="line-height: 1.2;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Just know that I am dreaming dreams. &nbsp;I dream of agricultural coops,&nbsp;<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">food processing coops, micro-finance coops, healthy corner store coops, food education coops all networked together for the sharing of resources, ideas, &amp; people. And I'm reflecting on the models in N FL that are the seeds, roots, and saplings of our own scaled up future: <a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/">TFN</a> and its <a href="http://igrow-whateveryoulike.weebly.com/igrow-sales.html">iGrow</a>, <a href="http://rhomarket.com/">Red Hills Small Farms Alliance</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SeedTimeHarvestFarms">Seed Time Harvest</a>, N FL Culinary Incubator, the <a href="http://slowfoodfirstcoast.org/">Slow Food Farm Tour in Jax</a>, New Leaf's expansión to Bradfordville, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tallyfrenchtownmarket?fref=ts">Frenchtown Heritage Market</a>, the <a href="http://newnorthfloridacoop.com/index_files/nnfc.htm">North Florida Cooperative</a>, the <a href="http://www.fnfcg.org/">NE FL Community Garden Network</a>, <a href="http://www.compostcommunity.org/about-us">Compost Community</a>&nbsp;and all manner of other pieces.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="color: #242424; line-height: 1.2;"><br /></span>May your WILDEST dreams grow into being,<br />Nathan<br /><br />Oh, and a food garden tip. Summer's upon us, so it might be time for you to transition to the next crops:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tExrktopM_Y" width="420"></iframe> <br /><br />Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-63442809937579662622015-06-02T18:22:00.001-04:002015-10-03T10:19:35.096-04:00Why Can I Eat Bread in France, but not the States?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XEyA5hspjik/VV8LAFTVu1I/AAAAAAAACB4/AYlq2sWskrY/s1600/20150519_171804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XEyA5hspjik/VV8LAFTVu1I/AAAAAAAACB4/AYlq2sWskrY/s320/20150519_171804.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I've got a food riddle for you from Paris, France: Why can I eat bread over here when it makes me sick at home?<br /><br />First, a little personal background.<br /><br />Since my senior year of high school, I've not been able to eat much bread at all. For five years, I was severely hypoglycemic, and everything I ate had to have more protein than carbohydrates. &nbsp;That meant, in effect, that I spent my years of college beer-less and eating lots of salad with meat on top. I ate tons of vegetables, very little fruit, basically no carbohydrates to speak of, meat, nuts, eggs, and cheese. If I accidentally ate, say, cream-spinach with corn-starch in it, I'd spend the next 2-3 days mentally cloudy, depressed, and lacking motivation. It was a health-imposed paleo diet of sorts.<br /><br />Finally, the year after my college graduation, I learned to manage (and all but eliminate) my hypoglycemia in two ways. First, I took chromium supplements (chromium is an essential micro-nutrient that helps the pancreas regulate its production of insulin) for 8 months. Second, inspired by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/In-Defense-Food-Eaters-Manifesto/dp/0143114964">Michael Pollan's reporting on green vs grain-based food chains</a>, I made sure to eat sufficient sources of omega 3s: sardines, flax, grass-fed meats, and especially loads of green vegetables (sustainably raised on good soils are especially balancing for me). &nbsp;Though I still do not eat much refined sugar in the form of candies, sweets, or sodas by American standards, at least I can now eat carbohydrate basics like rice and potatoes, fresh fruit, and, well, ice cream from time to time :).<br /><br />In spite of having learned to dietarily manage my hypoglycemia, your typically, store-bought bread has continued to cause me problems. From constipation and abdominal bloating to hypoglycemic-like low-blood sugar symptoms such as exhaustion and irrational anger, eating bread causes me all kinds of problems. &nbsp;Dr Li, a Tallahassee acupuncturist says that wheat exacerbates swelling in my low-intestine, which puts pressure on my pancreas and gall bladder. The pancreas is responsible for insulin production, thus the hypoglycemic reaction, and an irritated gall bladder, I hear, is often accompanied by anger. So, you might think that I'm gluten intolerant or otherwise allergic to wheat.<br /><br />Except: When I eat bread homemade by friends with organic wheat in the States: no problem. &nbsp;And then, also, in France, I've ate all manner of bread. Well, I should say: baguette, baguette, baguette. Over here too: no problem whatsoever. <a href="http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/~/media/2C6428C5A5254BAFB484C6E43E4ADCF9.ashx">Why</a>?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CU_YK-6pAxA/VV8QP1KmDdI/AAAAAAAACCI/7byILLTjpMg/s1600/20150521_115001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CU_YK-6pAxA/VV8QP1KmDdI/AAAAAAAACCI/7byILLTjpMg/s320/20150521_115001.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />Here is my working hypothesis: In light of the fact that <a href="http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/france.php">France is very restrictive</a> on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism">GMOs</a> and increasingly on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate">Roundup</a><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>, I'm guessing that the reason I can eat bread in France but not at home is due to&nbsp;RoundUp<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®&nbsp;</b>residues in US bread. And, I'm guessing I can eat bread made with organic wheat at home because neither GMOs or&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate">Roundup</a><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;is permissible in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&amp;contentid=organic-agriculture.html">USDA Organic</a>&nbsp;foods.<br /><br />To paint the full picture, let me delve in a little. This is my health (perhaps all of ours) and a $200 billion rabbit hole, so stick with me. Here's what I've learned:<br /><ol><li>Although GMOs are sold to the public as a way to "feed the world" by developing more bountiful, nutritious crops, <b>the most numerous* genetic modifications are, in fact, seeds/crops that are "Roundup Ready</b><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®.</b>"&nbsp;Roundup Ready<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;means that a field of, say, Roundup Ready<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">® </b>corn can be sprayed with Roundup<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;and the weeds will die, but the corn won't. The obvious labor-saving benefit has, you might imagine, led to <a href="http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/glyphosate/NancySwanson.pdf">incredible amounts</a> of Roundup<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;being used on US crops. (* in terms of total number of seeds grown).</li><li><b>Roundup<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</span>&nbsp;kills plants - not directly- but by blocking the absorption of key micro-nutrients critical for plants' immune defense.</b> Without a functioning immune system, non&nbsp;Roundup Ready<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;plants (like weeds) succumb to any-ole soil fungi that comes along. Spraying Roundup<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;could be considered akin to giving a plant a particularly brutal strand of HIV-Aids. (An interview with Don Huber, a world-renown expert in plant pathology&nbsp;from Purdue University&nbsp;<a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/artman2/uploads/1/May2011_Huber.pdf">explains it all</a> if you want the details. Or: <a href="http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/06/dr-huber-gmo-foods.aspx">here</a> if you'd like it in plainer speak.) On a personal note, it seems reasonable that there may likely be a connection between my chromium deficiency and the fact that the active ingredient* of&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate">Roundup</a><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;is a chelator, meaning it "binds up" (makes unavailable) nutrients like chromium. (*Glyphosate).</li><li>For years, <b>the counter argument against worry concerning widespread use of&nbsp;Roundup<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</span>&nbsp;on our food went like this:&nbsp;Roundup<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</span>&nbsp;only affects plants, not humans. Turns out, <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=pulsenews">this does not appear to be true</a></b>&nbsp;because&nbsp;Roundup<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;disrupts key metabolic processes in our gut bacteria rendering them <a href="http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/12/10/dr-don-huber-interview-part-1.aspx">stunted&nbsp;or killed</a> outright, which seriously compromises our overall health -- not to mention the general mineral chelating (nutrient "blocking") property of&nbsp;<b>Roundup<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®,</span></b>&nbsp;which was the reason it was patented in the first place. In Dr. Huber's <a href="http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/06/dr-huber-gmo-foods.aspx">words</a>, "You may have the mineral [in your food], but if it's chelated with glyphosate, it's not going to be available physiologically for you to use, so you're just eating a piece of gravel."</li><li><b>Since the release of&nbsp;Roundup Ready<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</span>&nbsp;crops&nbsp;into the US Food System in the early 90s, and, thus, increased&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate">Roundup</a><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;residues in our food, a host of health problems (including ADHD,&nbsp;Alzheimer's, Celiac/Wheat intolerance, cancer, <a href="http://www.cornucopia.org/2012/07/obesity-corn-gmos/">obesity</a>, high blood pressure, depression, and diabetes) and have <a href="http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/glyphosate/NancySwanson.pdf">risen drastically</a> in almost <a href="http://www.organic-systems.org/journal/92/JOS_Volume-9_Number-2_Nov_2014-Swanson-et-al.pdf">direct correlation to the increase in use of&nbsp;<b>Roundup</b><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b></a>.&nbsp;This article explains the medical&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/01/23/health-problems-linked-to-monsanto-roundup/">link</a>s&nbsp;to glyphosate</b><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">.</b>&nbsp;To lay the case bare, this <a href="http://omicsonline.org/open-access/detection-of-glyphosate-residues-in-animals-and-humans-2161-0525.1000210.pdf">study</a>&nbsp;shows that "chronically ill humans showed significantly higher glyphosate residues in urine than [a] healthy population."</li><li>Back on the topic of wheat: though Monsanto <a href="http://www.monsanto.com/sitecollectiondocuments/roundup-ready-wheat-briefing-06-05-13.pdf">discontinued</a> its&nbsp;Roundup Ready<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;Wheat development program in 2004,&nbsp;<b>Roundup<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</span>&nbsp;is</b>, nevertheless, <b>being used in US Wheat production</b> as this <a href="https://www.sdstate.edu/sdces/resources/crops/weeds/upload/07-FS953-Harvest-Aid-Weed-Control-in-Small-Grain-2009.pdf">South Dakota Ag Extension resource demonstrates</a>&nbsp;as a "harvest aid."</li><li>In a 2013 presentation in Tallahassee, Dr. Don Huber, the world-renown plant pathologist from Purdue University suggested that <b>the real reason Monsanto and the BioTech industry is fighting GMO labeling tooth and nail with <a href="http://www.ewg.org/research/anti-label-lobby">millions of dollars</a>&nbsp;is not because of direct labeling-related costs or even an anticipated drop in sales. The reason for the biotech industry's fight is because labeling will allow for interstate health comparison studies</b>. For example, if Florida adopts labeling while Illinois consumers remain in the GMO dark, state-wide health comparisons could be made with millions of replicates to implicate GMOs. Friends of Dr. Huber in the public health arena have estimated the cost of public expenditures on Roundup and GMO-related&nbsp;health problems at $200 billion. That is an average of $4 billion per state, or, in other terms, 4x all the Big Tobacco settlements put together. But for the trial lawyers to pick up the case, they need major health comparison studies. Thus the fight.</li></ol><div>In light of all this, <b>I'm guessing that Roundup<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</span>&nbsp;residues in conventional US store-bought bread is the reason I can't eat it.</b> The real kicker for this idea came while visiting Switzerland. Within a day or two of being in the country, with no real change in diet (still plenty of good cheese, fresh veggies, fresh bread, and local wine-- just like while in France), my stomach bloated up like I was stuffing myself with white sandwich bread from the States. Come to find out, Switzerland is more GMO and Roundup<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®</b>&nbsp;friendly than most countries in Europe. When we left Switzerland, I almost immediately began to feel better.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, here's my <b>Food Gardening tip of the day</b>: If you have weeds, before you reach for Roundup<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">®,</b></div><div>watch my YouTube video about weeding:</div><div><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/onLYfpNLvds" width="560"></iframe> <br /><div><br /></div><div><br />Until next time y'all-- happy growing,<br />Nathan, MIO</div><div><br /></div><br />Since the time of publishing, I've learned more from farming friends:<br /><ul><li>Roundup<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">® is the original brand, but since the patent ran out over 10 years ago, there are other brands and seeds to match. Glyphosate, the broad spectrum chelator is the problem. The minerals that Glyphosate chelates (or "binds up") are essential for immune function in most or all life forms, not just weeds.&nbsp;</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">When a farmer or other entity buys GMO seed, s/he must sign a contract that the seeds will not be used for scientific study. Thus, the meta-analysis of state-to-state comparisons is the only way to do studies on the effects of GMOs.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">The French are writing the same things. Here's an article (in French) entitled, <a href="http://lasocietesolidaireetdurable.com/2015/09/23/voici-la-vraie-raison-pour-laquelle-le-ble-est-toxique-et-il-ne-sagit-pas-du-gluten/">"The Real Reason the Wheat [in the US] is Toxic and It's Not the Gluten."</a></span></li></ul><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-49502360805060047892015-04-25T13:08:00.000-04:002015-04-25T13:08:23.069-04:00Greetings from Switzerland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sgDYVpinIyM/VTvGUAalL_I/AAAAAAAACBI/qE0KjK7U2n8/s1600/nathan%2Bin%2Bapples.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sgDYVpinIyM/VTvGUAalL_I/AAAAAAAACBI/qE0KjK7U2n8/s1600/nathan%2Bin%2Bapples.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div><br />Just a quick note to say hey from Switzerland. On this leg so far, we flew into Madrid, and then spent two weeks with friends in the south of France. Tomorrow, we're headed to Zurich, then to Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and back to France, where we'll spend a couple weeks in Paris before we head back to Madrid at the beginning of June to catch our flight back to the States.<br /><br />Everywhere we go we're learning! In Madrid: Spanish recipes (Tortillas, yum!). In France, bread making, stone walls, old architecture (that orients towards the south to maximize passive solar... that then informs where the garden goes: also to the south), home-made, gravity pressurized irrigation, cheese, and did I mention cheese! We saw countless coops, one example of how businesses can operate pairing the ideas of community benefit and economic viability, a way to to ensure sustainability for the long haul-- which reminds me of the economic development happening in N Florida around good food.<br /><br />Here in Switzerland, we're amazed at how they use ALL their space, even little stretches between the orchard and roads for growing wine grapes. &nbsp;Look to my <a href="http://facebook.com/maninoveralls">facebook.com/maninoveralls</a> page for pictures.<br /><br />And, of course, there are thriving gardens, farms, and markets EVERYWHERE! Oh the stories to tell...<br /><br />- - -<br /><br />Back in Florida, it's right about that time when you start encountering pests, so here's my <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4_5aRigTlioTGo3b3M5SjBkeU0/view">Pesky Pests and What to Do About Them</a>.<br /><br />Happy Growing,<br />Nathan<br /><br />PS- Lest I forget, in February in Ecuador, we visited with great folks at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fenocin.ecuador.9">FENOCIN</a>, an organization of campesinos (small farmers). Be sure to check them out. They're doing amazing work with small farmers, women, youth development, and national ag policy.Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-57932988883542966582015-03-12T00:03:00.003-04:002015-03-12T00:36:42.169-04:00Many expressions of the Food Movement in Nicaragua<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GhwGXOvc-t0/VQDIMjFJqGI/AAAAAAAABVM/01JE9E6JYGo/s1600/11046349_10153149175303839_459728555102754791_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GhwGXOvc-t0/VQDIMjFJqGI/AAAAAAAABVM/01JE9E6JYGo/s1600/11046349_10153149175303839_459728555102754791_n.jpg" height="200" width="142" /></a></div>I'm back in Tallahassee! (for two weeks). As I mentioned in <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/01/see-you-in-march.html">previous</a> posts, my wife, Mary Elizabeth and I spent the last two months in <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/02/rural-nicaragua-household-economy.html">Nicaragua</a> and Ecuador studying <a href="http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/eng/vision.html">spanish</a>, culture, dance, history, and <a href="http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/organisation-mainmenu-44/our-members-mainmenu-71">community-based good food</a> systems. Though we're back, there are more stories to tell.<br /><br />If you need a food garden consult, compost delivery, garden design, or a couple raised beds, let me know. Send me an <a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com">email with subject line "Food Gardening Work"</a>&nbsp;or ring me at 322.0749,&nbsp;and I'll get right back with you.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">- - -</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In addition to the <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2015/02/rural-nicaragua-household-economy.html">household-level food economy</a> smarts of folks in Nicaragua, we also learned of many organized efforts to "alimentar" their communities, i.e., to ensure their communities are taken care of and are eating well. The good food movement, indeed, has many expressions!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Take the the spanish language school, <a href="http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/eng/vision.html">Hijos del Maiz</a>&nbsp;in el Lagartillo where we studied for example. On the surface, it is simply a community-based language school for teaching foreigners Spanish. Dig a little deeper, and you'll discover <i>Hijos</i> is a community-led economic development initiative that provides incomes for young people in the community, so they don't have to emigrate to survive, to feed their families. (The economic pressure to emigrate is the net-result of the 10-year U.S. backed and funded <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras">contra</a> (revolutionary) war</i>, which cost many in the community their <a href="http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/eng/history.html">loved</a> ones <i>and</i> the U.S. political take-over of the 90s that dismantled and/or undermined small-farmer cooperatives including the one that originally drew the families of Lagartillo together. In light of these two events, most rural farming communities still struggle to make ends meet and feed their kids.) So, <i><a href="http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/index.html">Hijos del Maiz</a></i> is a spanish language school that provides economic opportunity to community families.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But, dig a step deeper still, and you'll learn&nbsp;that the purpose of the school had always been to nourish the families-- directly. Let me explain.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQ1RMQYRw24/VQDYiHUwpqI/AAAAAAAABVc/etzw6kx1mVY/s1600/10502523_10105710705417413_5667693908048828582_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Everyone from the community involved in the spanish school receives payment: teachers, home-stay families, coordinators, and the bookkeeper. (As an aside, 20% of revenue is placed in a "social projects" account for "betterment" projects like family latrines, a community center &amp; library, medical assistance and scholarships.) The hope in paying home stay families was that they could afford to purchase healthier food options, namely fruits and vegetables. After a while, leadership noticed that though incomes had increased, diets had not changed, so they changed the payment structure.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQ1RMQYRw24/VQDYiHUwpqI/AAAAAAAABVc/etzw6kx1mVY/s1600/10502523_10105710705417413_5667693908048828582_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQ1RMQYRw24/VQDYiHUwpqI/AAAAAAAABVc/etzw6kx1mVY/s1600/10502523_10105710705417413_5667693908048828582_n.jpg" height="200" width="112" /></a></div>From then on, families were paid partially in cash and partially with a large baskets full of&nbsp;fresh fruits and vegetables. Additionally <i>Hijos</i>&nbsp;hosted cooking classes to teach families about non-traditional foods like beets. The president of <i>Hijos</i> told me, "Nathan, you wouldn't know because you haven't been here for the last decade, but the difference is profound. The children in our community have rosy cheeks these days." Rosy cheeks. How's that for a measure of impact?</div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">- - -&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We visited two other remarkable organized efforts in Nicaragua tied to food: the <a href="http://www.delcampo.net.ni/coop_le.php">Juan Francisco Paz Silva Cooperative</a> and the <a href="http://jhc-cdca.org/">Center for Development in Central America</a>. Both impressed us outright and reminded us of the work being done in the north Florida region by&nbsp;<a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/">Tallahassee Food Network</a>, <a href="http://redhillsfarmalliance.com/">Red Hills Small Farms Alliance</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SeedTimeHarvestFarms">Seed Time Harvest</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.famu.edu/cesta/main/index.cfm/cooperative-extension-program/agriculture/statewide-small-farm/">FAMU Small Farm's Program</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uhQnC7IEtbU/VQDbig1xnAI/AAAAAAAABVo/WMXLeilMgOE/s1600/20150129_091911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uhQnC7IEtbU/VQDbig1xnAI/AAAAAAAABVo/WMXLeilMgOE/s1600/20150129_091911.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bNP_xGF9GTs/VQDbv_4G8KI/AAAAAAAABVw/uSjTPiTcqTc/s1600/20150129_101449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bNP_xGF9GTs/VQDbv_4G8KI/AAAAAAAABVw/uSjTPiTcqTc/s1600/20150129_101449.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a>The primary product of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.delcampo.net.ni/coop_le.php">Juan Francisco Paz Silva Cooperative</a>&nbsp;in Achuapa is sesame: raw, roasted, oil, tahini and snack&nbsp;bars.&nbsp;They also aggregate and sell hibiscus wine and honey. Currently in R&amp;D, they are experimenting with rock-powers and soil bio-enhancers akin to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_microorganism">EM</a> (effective microorganisms) as soil amendments for their farmers to increase yields without synthetic chemicals, which poison fields and farmers. They do farmer workshops, provide extension-like services, and maintain a retail-store for farm and family basics. They also have a women's wealth-creation program and leadership development programs for youth. Their 200+ farmers make decisions by representation: all farmers are organized into groups of 5; each group choses their delegate to attend the annual meeting.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">- - -</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oOkHlqzPVvY/VQDhNMb5EwI/AAAAAAAABWI/xWp7lqAM9eM/s1600/20150203_150553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oOkHlqzPVvY/VQDhNMb5EwI/AAAAAAAABWI/xWp7lqAM9eM/s1600/20150203_150553.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><br />We visited with Kathleen Murdock and <a href="http://www.opusprize.org/winners/08_Woodard.cfm">Mike Woodward</a> at the&nbsp;<a href="http://jhc-cdca.org/">Center for Development in Central America</a>&nbsp;(CDCA) in Ciudad Sandino. At the prompting of priest Miguel Descoto, they relocated their Jubilee House Community to Nicaragua in the 90s. For the past 20 years, they have been working with their Nicaraguan neighbors in the areas of sustainable agriculture, sustainable economic development, health, education, and appropriate technology. In their words, their <i>goal is to work in partnership with communities and cooperatives to facilitate empowerment: enabling <b>them</b> to find <b>their</b> own solutions to the problems <b>they</b> identify and connecting <b>them</b> with resources to solve their problems.</i>&nbsp;The mission <i>is to enable communities to become self-sufficient, sustainable, democratic entities.</i>&nbsp;They have helped start 14 coops across the country (including a number of farming coops that are USDA certified organic.) Mike and Kathleen also gave us an update on how the coup in Honduras has led to "open season" on <a href="http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-mainmenu-40/1737-solidarity-message-from-via-campesina-international-in-reaction-to-violent-incidents-in-honduras">La Via Campesina</a>, <a href="http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-mainmenu-40/1663-honduras-lontime-campesina-leader-murdered">their leaders</a> and their peasant (i.e. small) farmer members. Click the links to learn more.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5jS2ax8ik2s/VQENFYRZy1I/AAAAAAAABWY/Yke5RXxMx6w/s1600/Gramlings%2Bcentinnial.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5jS2ax8ik2s/VQENFYRZy1I/AAAAAAAABWY/Yke5RXxMx6w/s1600/Gramlings%2Bcentinnial.png" height="200" width="161" /></a>Next up: stories from our time in Ecuador.<br /><br />Happy Spring!<br /><br />And, come to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Gramlings">Gramling's Centennial Celebration</a> on Saturday! See you there,<br /><br />Nathan, MIONathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-29982883662408384442015-02-11T11:44:00.001-05:002015-02-11T11:46:56.269-05:00 Rural Nicaragua Household EconomyMary Elizabeth and I spent 3 weeks of our stay in Nicaragua as students at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/eng/vision.html">Hijos del Maiz</a>&nbsp;spanish language school in El Lagartillo near Achuapa. We lived with a homestay family, shared meals, conversation, riddles, day-to-day life, and lots of laughs.<br /><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rJeahIJTWCU/VNjrhcRAHgI/AAAAAAAABR8/3KkZRvmOLk0/s1600/20150130_180430.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rJeahIJTWCU/VNjrhcRAHgI/AAAAAAAABR8/3KkZRvmOLk0/s1600/20150130_180430.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nuestra familia Nicaraguense. Whalder, Yelba, Mercedes, y Margarita. (Mary Elizabeth and I are in the middle.)</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">Everyday we received 4 hours of 1-on-1 language instruction with professional teachers who rotated weekly. Our classes were comprised of formal grammar lessons or informal conversation- based on our personal preferences. Typically, any given class was a mix of grammar, exhanges of personal &amp; family stories, and stories about their community's history that is rooted in a farming cooperative that brought them together in the early ´80´s and the US-backed Contra's attack on their community in '84 that cost many in the community<a href="http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/eng/history.html"> the lives of their brother and sisters</a>. Beyond our classes, we were free to visit with others in the community, go swimming at the community's cascada (waterfall), help our homestay family around the house, and check out books from the community library. It was a superb experience. Did I mention it was $200/week for room, board, and instruction? Wow.&nbsp;</div><br />Although <a href="http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/eng/vision.html">Hijos del Maiz</a>&nbsp;is most certainly a language school, and learn loads of spanish we did, amongst the first things I noticed upon arriving in El Lagartillo were the economies of our homestay family's household food systems. There is no waste. It is a story best told by pictures.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZW4ceiXlBcw/VNjyBZ204ZI/AAAAAAAABTU/IKO98rTePLw/s1600/20150126_172344.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZW4ceiXlBcw/VNjyBZ204ZI/AAAAAAAABTU/IKO98rTePLw/s1600/20150126_172344.jpg" height="200" width="112" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Host families receive CSA-like baskets of fresh fruits &amp; vegetables each week.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GTE4zvc118g/VNjwfgmDH9I/AAAAAAAABSM/eJywaQDpgU4/s1600/20150128_175226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GTE4zvc118g/VNjwfgmDH9I/AAAAAAAABSM/eJywaQDpgU4/s1600/20150128_175226.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>If you look close, you can see the homemade cheese loaves (made using the family cows' milk) on the counter in Yelba's roofed, open-air kitchen. Notice the wood burning, clay-construction stove made from local <i>tierra,</i> or earth. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wPc5PCB3Kr0/VNjwxhCwtRI/AAAAAAAABSU/LDVAPp66Dws/s1600/20150128_174339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wPc5PCB3Kr0/VNjwxhCwtRI/AAAAAAAABSU/LDVAPp66Dws/s1600/20150128_174339.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>The whey (leftover milky liquid from cheese making) was combined with vegetable scraps and fed daily to the family pig, which lived only a few steps from the kitchen door.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZqmZ9BHpYtM/VNj4jkzNRlI/AAAAAAAABTk/rY8bXl3_AZ8/s1600/20150128_174459.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZqmZ9BHpYtM/VNj4jkzNRlI/AAAAAAAABTk/rY8bXl3_AZ8/s1600/20150128_174459.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>Family chickens scratched in the pig manure looking for any undigested granules and fly larva. In doing so, they broke up the piles thus eliminating the classic bad odor of pigs.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r9r6P_Ol5u4/VNj6KPezetI/AAAAAAAABTw/3vwjT5R1y_4/s1600/20150128_180115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r9r6P_Ol5u4/VNj6KPezetI/AAAAAAAABTw/3vwjT5R1y_4/s1600/20150128_180115.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZqmZ9BHpYtM/VNj4jkzNRlI/AAAAAAAABTk/rY8bXl3_AZ8/s1600/20150128_174459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>My host family told us that the reason a piggy bank is in the shape of a pig is because it´s premised on the same idea: feed the pig or piggy bank your leftovers each day and over time you grow something that can allow you to make it through tough times or give you an opportunity to splurge in celebration. We celebrated new family ties and delicious, good meat.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QubgQTj2gdk/VNjxhHbmuWI/AAAAAAAABTM/tGPoi99P24w/s1600/20150128_180623.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QubgQTj2gdk/VNjxhHbmuWI/AAAAAAAABTM/tGPoi99P24w/s1600/20150128_180623.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>Even at this close range, I kid you not: this home-raised pig did not stink. Something was very right about its diet and living situation.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtnA4Gwv5WM/VNj6Qd0p8QI/AAAAAAAABT4/vDJHk-6TZ_U/s1600/20150128_180144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtnA4Gwv5WM/VNj6Qd0p8QI/AAAAAAAABT4/vDJHk-6TZ_U/s1600/20150128_180144.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>No waste, like I mentioned: the neighborhood dogs ensured the bloog didn´t simply soak into the ground.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ic-DiDcW2Bw/VNj6Xp8J_KI/AAAAAAAABUA/4dPFPz8Q8YA/s1600/20150128_195834.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ic-DiDcW2Bw/VNj6Xp8J_KI/AAAAAAAABUA/4dPFPz8Q8YA/s1600/20150128_195834.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>Our family´s brother-in-law oversaw the butchering. His care and precision ensured no meat was spoiled by an accidental puncturing of the intestines.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iocT_uoNlwI/VNj6dlTqMSI/AAAAAAAABUI/9_CtZfMHkGA/s1600/20150128_211058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iocT_uoNlwI/VNj6dlTqMSI/AAAAAAAABUI/9_CtZfMHkGA/s1600/20150128_211058.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>Our first piggy meal was <i>fritata</i>, all the spinal bones cooked together in a rich broth with a little garlic and chili powder. Delicious.&nbsp; And talk about local! The cows are approximately 1/3mile away on the periphery of town, the vegetables from a market 3 miles away, the pig 20feet from the kitchen door. The butchering, curing, and eating within a few steps of each other.&nbsp; (For those of you familar with <a href="http://holmgren.com.au/about-permaculture/">Permaculture</a>, it was a brilliant lesson in elements and functions not to mention zones.)<br /><br />If the time and computer access were available, I could write a book about the grass-roots organizing and community-based food systems we witnessed. More stories to come...<br /><br />Nathan, Man in Overalls<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QubgQTj2gdk/VNjxhHbmuWI/AAAAAAAABTM/tGPoi99P24w/s1600/20150128_180623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-76415179742536092662015-01-06T06:37:00.000-05:002015-01-06T06:37:59.290-05:00See You in March<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qWFS9MqwZy8/VKvE6GKSJbI/AAAAAAAABRc/K-qdLrq-O-w/s1600/20140614_165004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qWFS9MqwZy8/VKvE6GKSJbI/AAAAAAAABRc/K-qdLrq-O-w/s1600/20140614_165004.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div><br />And we're off! &nbsp;Mary Elizabeth and I are hopping on a plane this afternoon for a two month stint in Nicaragua and Ecuador to learn spanish, culture, dance, as much about history, and, of course, community-based food systems as we're able.<br /><br />We'll be back in March for the month. While I'm around, I'll be partnering up with Sundiata Ameh-El of&nbsp;<a href="http://facebook.com/igrowyouth">iGrow</a>&nbsp;to put in and ramp up as many food gardens as possible (which means, if you've got food gardening work that needs doing, send me an <a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com">email with subject line "March Food Garden Work"</a>&nbsp;to get on my list asap. Compost deliveries, consults, new gardens, edible orchards, workshops, &amp; community garden developments all apply).<br /><br />My other major goal during March is to grow <a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/">Tallahassee Food Network</a>'s financial base. Tallahassee Food Network is our regional coalition of the global movement that works to grow community-based good food systems. I'm eager to see its internal capacity grow through staffing and a dedicated "food-house" (office space). As with travel, so with organizational development: even with frugality, it takes <i>some</i>&nbsp;money. I'll be partnering up with my fellow board member, Qasimah Boston to work on TFN fundraising. I'm excited about the work.<br /><br />In the meantime, here are two food gardening videos that may offer some assistance during January/February:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Y41SjQR3k" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #669922; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How to Grow Year Round</a><span style="color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">&nbsp;(in spite of the cold) and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5wkAB3-ZNk&amp;list=PL1UhhtUpwGTnbDazvATDUXlek9LZSvySL&amp;index=14" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #669922; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; text-decoration: none;">Growing Potatoes</a>.&nbsp;Watch the first when those cold days are predicted a week out. And February 14th, Valentines is the old-timers day of choice for planting potatoes... which is just around the corner.<br /><br />Happy growing,<br />Nathan, Man in Overalls<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4m0jjQnr-JQ/VHb2kUWoeYI/AAAAAAAABO4/6P91OBAi95o/s1600/MIO%2Bcloseup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4m0jjQnr-JQ/VHb2kUWoeYI/AAAAAAAABO4/6P91OBAi95o/s1600/MIO%2Bcloseup.jpg" height="200" width="113" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-74901327279198151622014-12-08T08:43:00.000-05:002014-12-10T19:05:10.112-05:00"How 'bout them apples?"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What does Apple, Inc, the multinational corporation that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics have in common with north Florida local food efforts like <a href="http://rhomarket.com/">Red Hills Online Market</a>, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tallyfrenchtownmarket">Frenchtown Heritage Market</a>, and <a href="http://facebook.com/iGrowYouth">iGrow Whatever You Like</a>?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zNv1_yJU62c/VIWf7dfZFUI/AAAAAAAABP0/y2-6iBJSGig/s1600/apple%2Bstore%2Bline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zNv1_yJU62c/VIWf7dfZFUI/AAAAAAAABP0/y2-6iBJSGig/s1600/apple%2Bstore%2Bline.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A line to enter at the Apple Store in Miami's Southbeach</td></tr></tbody></table>This past weekend (still traveling), my wife and I passed by this Apple store in South Beach, Miami. There was a line of people outside waiting to get in for the opportunity to shop. Wow. Picture op! I thought.<br /><br />But why is Man in Overalls, a food garden entrepreneur and community food system developer interested in a tech store? &nbsp;Because Apple, Inc. and local food efforts are largely pursuing the same business model: direct marketing, also called "direct-to-consumer" sales.<br /><br />Let's take a look:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2yEW0oba8vw/VITTOh4Vx5I/AAAAAAAABPY/wuio7ODBZQc/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2014-12-07%2Bat%2B5.10.19%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2yEW0oba8vw/VITTOh4Vx5I/AAAAAAAABPY/wuio7ODBZQc/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2014-12-07%2Bat%2B5.10.19%2BPM.png" height="200" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Red Hills Online Market&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://rhomarket.com/">Red Hills Online Market</a> (a project of the Red Hills Small Farms Alliance) is an online farmers' market where local farmers can post their products for sale and local customers can purchase directly from the farmers. RHO simply takes out a small commission for the convenience to fund operations. It's basically the <a href="http://airbnb.com/">AirBnB</a> of our local farm-to-table industry. &nbsp;RHO even has a <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.localfoodmarketplace.redhills&amp;hl=en">mobile app available on GooglePlay</a>&nbsp;to up the convenience.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6HLzKVJI3aw/VIWhFmF9QAI/AAAAAAAABQE/w_Z4y-XpTLc/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2014-12-08%2Bat%2B8.00.34%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6HLzKVJI3aw/VIWhFmF9QAI/AAAAAAAABQE/w_Z4y-XpTLc/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2014-12-08%2Bat%2B8.00.34%2BAM.png" height="249" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frenchtown Heritage Market Summer 2014</td></tr></tbody></table>In an in-person-retail sort of way, <a href="http://frenchtownheritage.org/">Frenchtown Heritage Market (FHM)</a>&nbsp;is doing the same thing: bringing local producers together with local customers, so they can exchange directly. The bonus FHM brings to the table is that local residents with SNAP/EBT cards can use their food stamps/cash assistance funds to purchase local products.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mkl-pysqmGg/VIWkM5nQYMI/AAAAAAAABQU/S2jWKFmzzuk/s1600/Photo%2B2013-05-26%2B04.46.20%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mkl-pysqmGg/VIWkM5nQYMI/AAAAAAAABQU/S2jWKFmzzuk/s1600/Photo%2B2013-05-26%2B04.46.20%2BPM.jpg" height="320" width="264" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://igrow-whateveryoulike.weebly.com/">iGrow Whatever You Like</a>, Tallahassee Food Network's youth empowerment and urban agriculture program that manages the Dunn Street Youth Farm is significantly sustained by the sale of products and services, which they produce and sell directly. Products include iGrow Buckets, iGrow Gardens, iGrow Compost Magic Mix, and fresh vegetables. The young people sell directly to customers on-farm, as well as at the Frenchtown Heritage Market, through Red Hills Online, and directly to restaurants.<br /><br />Whatever it looks like, the direct-sales business model is rooted in the "logic of the dollar." Apple farmers, for instance, earn 5 to 10 cents for every $1 spent on apple sauce in spite of the fact that sauce is 95-99.9% apples. The rest of the earnings go to harvesters, trains and trucks, peeling and processing, food-science-additives like preservatives, cooking, packaging, marketing, and lots of middle men like your favorite grocery store chain. It's a similar story for all manner of agricultural products.<br /><br />Thus, if farmers were able to sell their products directly to consumers either in their raw form (apples)-- or as the "value added" products (like apple sauce)-- they would "capture more of the dollar," and therefore economically survive and possibly thrive.<br /><br />This is the same logic that Apple, Inc the multinational corporation is working off of. And if you look around, it is more and more the logic of the largest companies on earth. Think Google, Exxon, Walmart, and others.<br /><br />Keep up the good food work,<br />Nathan, Man in Overalls<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eyotNIGphmk/VIWqqB2kX7I/AAAAAAAABQk/9070cKZm7MI/s1600/MIO%2Bcloseup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eyotNIGphmk/VIWqqB2kX7I/AAAAAAAABQk/9070cKZm7MI/s1600/MIO%2Bcloseup.jpg" height="200" width="113" /></a><br />++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br />Update: December 10th, 2014<br /><br />An hour after I published, Tony Murray sent me this short note: <i>"FYI: Apple-- 54.4 B of corporate profits "parked" overseas....; <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-12/cash-abroad-rises-206-billion-as-apple-to-ibm-avoid-tax.html">how 'bout those non-American apples</a>...."</i><br /><br />Kudos to Tony for pointing out the difference between Apple, Inc and our local farm-to-table business models: namely where the money earned goes. In the case of Apple, Inc, the money we spend with them heads to Cupertino, CA and/or oversees into tax-sanctuaries. Apple, of course, has sizable expenses (R&amp;D, manufacturing, materials, executives, marketing, etc), and they reinvest in the company to the benefit of shareholders-- a few who live in our area. It's safe to say, however, that very little local economic benefit is derived from Apple, Inc.<br /><br />The vast majority of money spent with our local farmers, on the other hand, stays right here in our community. Orchard Pond, one local farm, estimates that 60% of their farm expenses are labor. That means jobs. Now think of seeds, starts, amendments, office supplies, accounting assistance, and all manner of other possible farm/business materials &amp; services. Many (if not most of those) can also be acquired locally. When a business earns local dollars and re-spends them with other local individuals and businesses, we call this the local multiplier effect. Local, small-scale, naturally-grown agricultural production has one of the greatest local-multiplier effects of any business model out there.<br /><br />Now consider that annually in Tallahassee's area, we spend $180 million on fruits and vegetables. What if 10%, what if 5% of that were produced locally? We'd be looking at a direct 300 ($30k/yearly) jobs. When the local-multiplier effect was taken into account, we'd easily be talking 500 jobs. Imagine what that would do for our community. For issues of hunger, for crime, for family stress, for local businesses, for property values.<br /><br />Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-16887792484024351352014-11-27T11:25:00.002-05:002014-12-10T23:03:39.084-05:00Giving Thanks for Innovation in the Food Movement<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F4Z0jw_b2VU/VHa8G4LGDXI/AAAAAAAABOU/pgP94CBBL2g/s1600/Group%2BPhoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F4Z0jw_b2VU/VHa8G4LGDXI/AAAAAAAABOU/pgP94CBBL2g/s1600/Group%2BPhoto.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">TFN board, staff, and advisors joined for a retreat 11/22/14.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Happy Thanksgiving.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am grateful. &nbsp;Not only have I had a chance to travel the US the pasted six months -- not to mention I will be traveling internationally with Mary Elizabeth come January-- I've been wildly lucky to spend the last two weeks in Tallahassee. &nbsp;I had a chance to visit family, share meals, and catch up. &nbsp;There was also time to check in with loads of good folks doing great work around good food. I wish I could tell you all the stories.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But, I tell you what: instead of my stories, go collect your own at <a href="http://www.growinggreen.org/summit/">Leon County's Food Summit </a>January 24th. All our key food stakeholders/players will be there, and we need all our area's peoples and networks present because the conversation and the survey they collect is going to help set regional food strategy. Be there.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hbcaiHm2LVw/VHbF7l65plI/AAAAAAAABOk/sQr0qugKgZg/s1600/Leon%2BCo%2BFood%2BSummit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hbcaiHm2LVw/VHbF7l65plI/AAAAAAAABOk/sQr0qugKgZg/s1600/Leon%2BCo%2BFood%2BSummit.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">- - -</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the highlights of my time in Tallahassee was the <a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/">Tallahassee Food Network (TFN)</a>&nbsp;board retreat. We reflected at length on our four year history as a "regional coalition of the global movement that works to grow community-based (good) food systems." (You can check out the history here:&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_5aRigTliocWUteGgtLUM4N28/edit">TFN 2013 Mini-Report</a>). Our impact includes developing a coalition of over&nbsp; </span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">700 affiliates including over 100 organizations. Solely amongst those organizations, TFN fostered roughly 200+ partnerships and over 700&nbsp;personal relationships. This new fabric of community has fostered new projects, programs, organizations, businesses, funding avenues, policy adoption, and, frankly, a community-wide shift in the importance placed on food issues (as evidenced by city, county, and other major institutions adopting food-related priorities-- including the above mentioned Food Summit). The impact of our network is even more impressive when you consider that TFN has functioned on very few (financial) resources and minimal part-time staffing.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Paul Ledford, CEO of Florida Hospice hosted and joined us last Saturday. (Thanks Paul). &nbsp;He pointed out that TFN's history of impact demonstrates a high level of organizational innovation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">His comment renewed a question I've been wrestling with for a while: What makes for the most effective, innovative and impactful group/team? How are great groups organized, structured, unstructured, or led/coordinated? Point being: how do we get impressively large, sustained success? And because my mind always errs this direction: how do we grow and sustain social movements? -- Specifically, how do we build from TFN's history to do even better as an organization and as a networked local/regional/national/international good food movement?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Based on my experience with community gardens, which are <a href="http://american-community-gardening-association.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/growing-communities-how-to-build-community-through-community-gardening">90% community and 10% garden</a>, I know human infrastructure, organization, and facilitative leadership is key, so I've been collecting a lot&nbsp;of material on the subject for my own edification. Below you'll find some of the resources I've collected. One day, I'll likely weave these ideas into a book of strategies and stories about our food movement. For now, click on what you think will serve you in enacting your food dreams.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Happy Thanksgiving.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NugRZGDbPFU" width="560"></iframe><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">- - -</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">&nbsp;--&gt;"What are the physical spaces that foster innovation?" Often breakthroughs requires a "hunch" in one's brain "colliding" with hunches from others' brains</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/chXsLtHqfdM" width="560"></iframe><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;My take away from his book (<u><a href="http://www.newsociety.com/Books/R/Ripples-from-the-Zambezi">Ripples from the Zambezi</a></u>) on what he calls "Enterprise Facilitation": Don't ever give anyone an idea. And don't try to motivate them. Rather: listen for their ideas and foster and facilitate. Defer initiative to the person you're working with.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology">Open Space Technology</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;A way of hosting meetings or retreats with a small or very large group beginning without any formal agenda beyond the overall purpose of theme.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><a href="https://hbr.org/2014/06/collective-genius"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Collective Genius</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;"The role of a leader of innovation is not to set a vision and motivate others to follow it. It's to create a community that is willing and able to generate new ideas." "The question is not 'How do I make innovation happen?' but, rather, 'How do I set the stage for it to happen?"</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664">Netflix Culture: Freedom and Responsibility</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;As organizations grow, they necessarily grow in complexity. Rather than policies and procedures to minimize error, outpace complexity with dynamic people and by providing context (not by exerting control. E.g., no vacation policy). Creative/dynamic people are 2-10x as productive and achieve non-linear impact. It's not about working hard; it's about what you get done.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc"><span id="goog_198283619"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/u6XAPnuFjJc" width="560"></iframe>&nbsp;</span></a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc">Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us</a><span id="goog_198283620"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Pay people enough to take money off the table of worries. Then set up an environment where autonomy, mastery, and purpose are interwoven into your organizational structure/expectations.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.abcdinstitute.org/">Asset-Based Community Development</a>&nbsp;(ABCD)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Everyone has something to bring to the table (assets): skills &amp; ideas, resources, and associations. Often, the people you a)think are in the way or b)assume have the least to offer are those who have the assets you're missing. People in affected communities always hold the trump card assets for successful planning and implementation for projects/programs targeting their communities.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://gladwell.com/the-tipping-point/">The Tipping Point</a></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">--&gt;Three types of people are required for social&nbsp;phenomenon&nbsp;to "tip," (spread like wild fire): connectors, "experts" (i.e., the people other people hold in high regard for knowing about something), and sales people. Timing and situational context for an idea/trend/movement/story to spread is everything (e.g., Paul Revere rode at night meant people were in their houses).&nbsp;</span></span></div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2011/01/egypt-how-to-lead-and-open-source-protest.html">"How to Lead an Open Source Revolution"</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;</span></div><div style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2008/03/starting-an-ope.html">"Open Source Insurgency - How to Start"</a>&nbsp;by John Robb</span></div><div style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Focus on "Big Tent" ideas that can unify. Avoid ideology. Lead by providing working models. Share ideas/open collaboration. Support the efforts of other groups under the big tent.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://gladwell.com/david-and-goliath/">David and Goliath</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Underdogs win by bucking convention, hustling, and playing by their own rule book. Lawrence of Arabia. Middle school girls playing full court basketball all game.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emergence-Connected-Brains-Cities-Software/dp/0684868768"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Emergence</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Individual actors - if they can assess &amp; respond to their environment and communicate with others about their action (whether we're talking about ants, computers, or people), they will display an intelligence greater than the sum of their parts. Greater ability to assess/respond and/or&nbsp;greater communication leads to increased emergence.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://gladwell.com/outliers/">Outliers</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;The ecology of success. If people are surrounded by an ecology of opportunity and support, they do incredible things. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, S.E. China rice farm children. Connects to ABCD.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Change-Design-Transforms-Organizations-Innovation/dp/0061766089">Change By Design</a></span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">--&gt;</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Interweave disparate viewpoints and people to enrich design development. Think holistically</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: start to finish. The need for project spaces (like the Purple House, Salvation Army Garden, Dunn Street).&nbsp;</span></div></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://highlandercenter.org/products-page/about-highlander/the-long-haul-an-autobiography/">The Long Haul</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Put people in situations where they have to act on ideas, not talk about them. &nbsp;With, not for. Work on integration by integrating. Focus on structural change. Organizations are key to movements.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals">Rules for Radicals</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Until you've achieved a balance of power between parties, "reconciliation" simply means, "I win, and you'd better get reconciled to the idea." "Communication only happens when people get what you're trying to get across to them." Change requires power. Without money, power comes from people. "In order to act, the people must get together."</span><br /><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bennis-genius.html">Organizing Genius</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;"Shabby" project spaces. Quirky leadership unafraid of people more talented/different than them. "F<span style="color: black;">ueled by an invigorating, completely unrealistic view of what they can accomplish." Big-time "How" questions/goals. Leadership that insulates team from external evaluation/judgement.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.gamestorming.com/">Gamestorming</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Play-by-play collaborative, creative group "games" or meeting techniques.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Facilitators-Guide-Participatory-Decision-Making-Kaner/dp/0787982660">The Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision Making</a></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;For hard issues/questions with no immediately apparent solutions, messy open-dialog is necessary to bring divergent perspectives into mix. Takes a long time, but expedites/ensures implementation. Tools for facilitation (drawing out, stacking, interrupting content to discuss process, chart writing, echoing, parking lot). Silence doesn't mean agreement.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1417078617&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=creativity+inc.">Creativity, Inc</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--&gt;Pixar lost money for 20 years, and they found ways to shuffle from the financial back-corner of one business to another, and then they made Toy Story. &nbsp;Financial power-balancing by going public before partnership with Disney to prevent being steamrolled.</span><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Keep Growing,</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Nathan, Man in Overalls</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">--and, yes, I'm still getting my overalls dirty. <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2014/05/growing-forward-who-to-call.html">Sundiata</a> and I were doing a school garden just yesterday morning together.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4m0jjQnr-JQ/VHb2kUWoeYI/AAAAAAAABO0/Qw6N4Cr2DZE/s1600/MIO%2Bcloseup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4m0jjQnr-JQ/VHb2kUWoeYI/AAAAAAAABO0/Qw6N4Cr2DZE/s1600/MIO%2Bcloseup.jpg" height="200" width="113" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-79509592930196474372014-10-17T04:09:00.000-04:002014-10-17T04:09:25.500-04:00Hello from Out West & Remember New Leaf's Farm Tour Oct 25th & 26th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Greetings from Tucson, AZ. Yesterday, Mary Elizabeth and I visited the Mercado San Agustin.</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ITkf-ceG2EI/VECrPCBudGI/AAAAAAAABAY/I_AHAKtZIWQ/s1600/20141016_173652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ITkf-ceG2EI/VECrPCBudGI/AAAAAAAABAY/I_AHAKtZIWQ/s1600/20141016_173652.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sign painted on the outside wall of the market</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FBedIrn692Q/VECrLG1b38I/AAAAAAAABAA/gaSP4tSsBwE/s1600/20141016_172559.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FBedIrn692Q/VECrLG1b38I/AAAAAAAABAA/gaSP4tSsBwE/s1600/20141016_172559.jpg" height="102" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A central square surrounded by sidewalks, farmer/producer booths, and restaurants.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C2X6tOditlE/VECrIYGuDGI/AAAAAAAAA_o/AZ4P3KMV-nw/s1600/20141016_172315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C2X6tOditlE/VECrIYGuDGI/AAAAAAAAA_o/AZ4P3KMV-nw/s1600/20141016_172315.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For-rent commercial kitchen for food-based businesses&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-15qLZGS552c/VECrIQYElAI/AAAAAAAAA_s/LDcW8AOW4yQ/s1600/20141016_172118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-15qLZGS552c/VECrIQYElAI/AAAAAAAAA_s/LDcW8AOW4yQ/s1600/20141016_172118.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">backyard-gardeners consignment table ran by the Food Bank</td></tr></tbody></table><br />There was a farmers market that was woven into the mosaic of a larger market: shops, a bakery, a rent-by-the-hour commercial kitchen for food-based businesses, a communal square, a bar, and a backyard-gardeners consignment table ran by the food bank, which is actually the umbrella organization for the farmers' market itself. (Check out what Tucson Community Food Bank is <a href="https://communityfoodbank.com/Programs-and-Services/Community-Food-Resource-Center">doing</a>&nbsp;to grow the food movement!) The market was linked to downtown by a newly developed streetcar! So cool! It reminds me of the vision for the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tallyfrenchtownmarket">Frenchtown Heritage Market</a> being developed in Tallahassee.<br /><br />Mary Elizabeth and I are here for a few days visiting family before we head down to Mexico. After&nbsp;10 days visiting my host family (with whom I lived for two months in 2007) in Nogales, Sonora, we'll head east on Interstate 10. We'll be back in north Florida the better part of November for a stop over before our next adventure: Central and South America. But I'm getting ahead of myself. How'd we find ourselves in Tucson? Weren't we headed for Montana?<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qcoV-S53I2A/VECtn6GeOAI/AAAAAAAABBk/_1oAO3Lcdow/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2014-10-16%2Bat%2B10.47.25%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qcoV-S53I2A/VECtn6GeOAI/AAAAAAAABBk/_1oAO3Lcdow/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2014-10-16%2Bat%2B10.47.25%2BPM.png" height="320" width="249" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />Before I answer that question, I've got to remind y'all about the <a href="http://www.newleafmarket.coop/seminars-events/farm-tour">New Leaf Farm Tour</a> coming up in just a few days: Oct 25 &amp; 26th. (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/274235889438337/?ref=br_tf">You can also find it here on FB</a>.) The Farm Tour is essentially a massive, region-wide farm open house. From New Leaf's website:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Thirty-four local farms [including <a href="http://facebook.com/igrowyouth">iGrow Dunn Street Youth Farm</a>] are opening their doors and inviting you to experience farm life. Each farm is offering something special. Families can enjoy tours that include barnyard animals, farm-fresh goods and refreshments. You can attend a workshop on beekeeping, take a hayride or talk to farmers who are committed to organic production. Visit working cattle and goat ranches, a dairy or a winery. And of course, purchase amazingly fresh goods directly from the farm.&nbsp;</i></blockquote>Sounds like a fun (and informative) time only because it is! Last year 14,000 people participated! I've been on one tour and hosted two others. Go, have fun! Download the Farm Tour brochure <a href="http://www.newleafmarket.coop/sites/default/files/media/documents/2014%20Farm%20Tour%20Brochure.pdf">HERE</a>. (It contains descriptions and directions to all the farms).<br /><br />While I'm on the subject, let me say here that New Leaf Market is one of my heroes. Let me use New Leaf's own numbers to show you why. Last year, New Leaf had:<br /><br /><ul><li>106 local producers (including 37 local farmer suppliers) from whom they purchased $932,073 worth of product including 5396 gallons of local milk, 4340 dozen local eggs; and</li><li>61 local service providers from whom they purchased $534,639 worth of services</li></ul><br />How many local businesses &amp; family farms did New Leaf support last year? 167! How many jobs did New Leaf support? So many! And how many local businesses that supply or service the above suppliers benefited because of New Leaf's local purchasing preference? What we're talking about is the <a href="http://www.amiba.net/resources/multiplier-effect">local multiplier effect</a>. New Leaf is yearly pumping over $1.5 million into our regional economic engine. Kudos to New Leaf! <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />So now for a travel update.<br /><br />In June Mary Elizabeth and I headed west across the country, bound for Montana. Along the way we stopped over in Memphis and Denver. Upon arriving in Glacier National Park, we took a side trip to Washington DC to join Sundiata and Clarenia for the Jefferson Awards. After three months working the summer season in Glacier, we headed west to Seattle to visit my sister and then turned south down the coast to visit friends and family in Oregon, California, and Arizona. Here's the story again, this time with pictures:<br /><br />In Memphis we visited friends Mary Phillips and Wes Riddle, co-directors of <a href="http://www.rootsmemphis.org/">Roots Memphis</a> (a for profit urban farm) and Roots Memphis Farm Academy (an educational nonprofit).<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tyw5QfxoII0/VEC5RAP1XiI/AAAAAAAABCk/0hdcMHWnM1I/s1600/20140606_103033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tyw5QfxoII0/VEC5RAP1XiI/AAAAAAAABCk/0hdcMHWnM1I/s1600/20140606_103033.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Mary watering at Roots Memphis' urban location adjacent to the Clarion Hotel.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hbpB9Z3DkfI/VEC5bKCV-EI/AAAAAAAABDE/F9PGFZhhcjE/s1600/20140606_102244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hbpB9Z3DkfI/VEC5bKCV-EI/AAAAAAAABDE/F9PGFZhhcjE/s1600/20140606_102244.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">We helped pick kale.</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wBJQa_ywcwg/VEC80xhzJLI/AAAAAAAABDY/xPO1BLDv4DE/s1600/20140606_092522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wBJQa_ywcwg/VEC80xhzJLI/AAAAAAAABDY/xPO1BLDv4DE/s1600/20140606_092522.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student "incubator plots" at rural location.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>"Roots" has a great cooperative CSA sales model for (adult) student farmers who work "incubator plots." If students meet profitability benchmarks for two years, Roots connects them with land and micro-financing up to $30,000ish. Internally, they have supplemented farm revenue during their start up period by hosting guests through <a href="http://airbnb.com/">airbnb.com</a>. Wes recommends these two books:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Rfp_fUFU_E/VEC5Wc0WThI/AAAAAAAABCw/-iHBJRWPm8g/s1600/20140606_080021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Rfp_fUFU_E/VEC5Wc0WThI/AAAAAAAABCw/-iHBJRWPm8g/s1600/20140606_080021.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DtUrryjuGyo/VEC5WcQ6ODI/AAAAAAAABCs/b1oHcW_Hpr8/s1600/20140606_085755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DtUrryjuGyo/VEC5WcQ6ODI/AAAAAAAABCs/b1oHcW_Hpr8/s1600/20140606_085755.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div><br />In Memphis we also saw Lauren Bangasser, another Warren Wilson fellow alumni/friend who works with Memphis Urban Farms 2 School. Here are a few pictures of her project at Grahamwood Elementary:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pbhlgQ0S32o/VEC-BmsjVSI/AAAAAAAABEA/wLrT7LWeKDg/s1600/20140606_141453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pbhlgQ0S32o/VEC-BmsjVSI/AAAAAAAABEA/wLrT7LWeKDg/s1600/20140606_141453.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signage is always important to help tell the story</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e4pgkKt99DA/VEC97OyrWLI/AAAAAAAABDk/OOrfcqzRl3A/s1600/20140606_135911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e4pgkKt99DA/VEC97OyrWLI/AAAAAAAABDk/OOrfcqzRl3A/s1600/20140606_135911.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two mega hoop houses</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e2qzoN4FOcY/VEC97DKcsoI/AAAAAAAABDg/07AhlSOcmpg/s1600/20140606_135922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e2qzoN4FOcY/VEC97DKcsoI/AAAAAAAABDg/07AhlSOcmpg/s1600/20140606_135922.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Donated freight containers for storage and mural space</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7nR3UKSlIko/VEC9_KOLp6I/AAAAAAAABDw/pufmCX7n1nQ/s1600/20140606_140853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7nR3UKSlIko/VEC9_KOLp6I/AAAAAAAABDw/pufmCX7n1nQ/s1600/20140606_140853.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful rows</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M73BmhoE0K0/VEC9_WkxtkI/AAAAAAAABD0/tYDInIVXH-s/s1600/20140606_141109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M73BmhoE0K0/VEC9_WkxtkI/AAAAAAAABD0/tYDInIVXH-s/s1600/20140606_141109.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edible flowers</td></tr></tbody></table><br />A few days later, we visited Denver. Mary Elizabeth's buddy, Joe Gaskin is a bike mechanic for their city-wide bike-share program, so we toured by bike and consequentially happened upon several urban gardens and a farm.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9aEkAArqV-w/VEDAWXc1I7I/AAAAAAAABEM/YmpCM4cJub0/s1600/20140610_132036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9aEkAArqV-w/VEDAWXc1I7I/AAAAAAAABEM/YmpCM4cJub0/s1600/20140610_132036.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--eMLF_XeMk8/VEDAWry7wHI/AAAAAAAABEQ/fWg-CbwLyfc/s1600/20140610_133213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--eMLF_XeMk8/VEDAWry7wHI/AAAAAAAABEQ/fWg-CbwLyfc/s1600/20140610_133213.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M5AT9_x7qSQ/VEDAh1gJNnI/AAAAAAAABEc/RxfgKdFBfPo/s1600/20140609_131116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M5AT9_x7qSQ/VEDAh1gJNnI/AAAAAAAABEc/RxfgKdFBfPo/s1600/20140609_131116.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qm8APmiFjpY/VEDAqx_ewvI/AAAAAAAABEo/XkdhOMJinVk/s1600/20140610_131542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qm8APmiFjpY/VEDAqx_ewvI/AAAAAAAABEo/XkdhOMJinVk/s1600/20140610_131542.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ltyYlhem56M/VEDAqos8tzI/AAAAAAAABEk/rZmsZAMSTfk/s1600/20140610_131502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ltyYlhem56M/VEDAqos8tzI/AAAAAAAABEk/rZmsZAMSTfk/s1600/20140610_131502.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><br />DUG, or <a href="http://dug.org/">Denver Urban Gardens</a>, has over 125 community gardens in their network. We checked out SPark (i.e., Sustainability Park), an urban farming collaboration amongst the Denver Housing Authority, 3 for-profit and 1 nonprofit urban farm. This was especially interesting because there have been background partnership conversations in Tallahassee going on amongst the Frenchtown Revitalization Council, <a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/">TFN</a>, the United Tenant Association and the Tallahassee Housing Authority.<br /><br />Next, we checked in and dropped our bags in Glacier only to catch a flight <a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2014/06/tallahassee-food-network-delegation-to.html">back east to join Sundiata and Clarenia for the Jefferson Awards</a> festivities in Washington, DC, June 16th-18th:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ltAj5plmmWU/VEDCwlY_8dI/AAAAAAAABE4/yvVwAa3iYjI/s1600/20140617_181939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ltAj5plmmWU/VEDCwlY_8dI/AAAAAAAABE4/yvVwAa3iYjI/s1600/20140617_181939.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left the overalls in the room for the Gala. <br />(left to right: Mary Elizabeth, Nathan, Clarenia, Sundiata)</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3_r0ZqvS68U/VEDDG1TLpUI/AAAAAAAABFE/55OfOApSwoI/s1600/20140616_121553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3_r0ZqvS68U/VEDDG1TLpUI/AAAAAAAABFE/55OfOApSwoI/s1600/20140616_121553.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Farmers Market on the steps of the USDA</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rme4HhduJ5o/VEDDGQPwKLI/AAAAAAAABFA/hvNTj5jlB_4/s1600/20140616_184001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rme4HhduJ5o/VEDDGQPwKLI/AAAAAAAABFA/hvNTj5jlB_4/s1600/20140616_184001.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Florida Jefferson awardees with Senator Bill Nelson</td></tr></tbody></table>Then it was back to beautiful Glacier National Park where Mary Elizabeth and I spent our summer:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fr8t5jA9DEI/VEDD08VgZOI/AAAAAAAABFU/5eEJjoXai9E/s1600/20140724_082419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fr8t5jA9DEI/VEDD08VgZOI/AAAAAAAABFU/5eEJjoXai9E/s1600/20140724_082419.jpg" height="105" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She worked in the dining room, and I worked driving an antique convertible tour bus and sharing info and stories about the park. Our backyard was none-too-shabby. Unexpectedly, we often worked longer days than we had in Tallahassee, frequently amassing 60+ hour work-weeks. We did, nonetheless, "get out" into the park to enjoy it.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJz8lACgtdw/VEDF7jFUaYI/AAAAAAAABGc/ivUe1kZMG9w/s1600/20140926_083225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJz8lACgtdw/VEDF7jFUaYI/AAAAAAAABGc/ivUe1kZMG9w/s1600/20140926_083225.jpg" height="100" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our home for the summer</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EiVawAX6B7E/VEDE24dmUTI/AAAAAAAABFk/dZmlYcpdEqo/s1600/20140801_174628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EiVawAX6B7E/VEDE24dmUTI/AAAAAAAABFk/dZmlYcpdEqo/s1600/20140801_174628.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In uniform.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xa34-bIwxQ4/VEDE2qwnlCI/AAAAAAAABFg/Qg-8IvJpb7o/s1600/20140817_202111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xa34-bIwxQ4/VEDE2qwnlCI/AAAAAAAABFg/Qg-8IvJpb7o/s1600/20140817_202111.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunsets in the valley</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qxda7ljXm04/VEDE3LGn8fI/AAAAAAAABFo/6FULZmFLNmQ/s1600/20140825_173207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qxda7ljXm04/VEDE3LGn8fI/AAAAAAAABFo/6FULZmFLNmQ/s1600/20140825_173207.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My swimming "hole" at Lake McDonald</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pna26JEDIAA/VEDE4RPQ8GI/AAAAAAAABF8/e_X4vzCuz20/s1600/20140828_141704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pna26JEDIAA/VEDE4RPQ8GI/AAAAAAAABF8/e_X4vzCuz20/s1600/20140828_141704.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guess who came to Glacier to visit their daughter, who was <br />on staff with us? Beth and Bryan Desloge! Small world!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YSJ7Xyy_Qp0/VEDE48Yq0sI/AAAAAAAABGE/zVNwQSLT_zA/s1600/20140902_163809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YSJ7Xyy_Qp0/VEDE48Yq0sI/AAAAAAAABGE/zVNwQSLT_zA/s1600/20140902_163809.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was a sucker for Glacier's freezing-cold lakes!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cCqAB55Qf1w/VEDE4anlpvI/AAAAAAAABF4/tTssUgTuRq8/s1600/20140904_110756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cCqAB55Qf1w/VEDE4anlpvI/AAAAAAAABF4/tTssUgTuRq8/s1600/20140904_110756.jpg" height="101" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My bus on the Going to the Sun Road.</td></tr></tbody></table>At the end of September, we left Glacier. Since then, we've camped and eaten our way west to Seattle (by way of SW Canada including Vancouver Island), and south down the coast to Arizona. There's been plenty of peanut butter and jelly mixed in to economize on time and money because we're currently on a "fixed no-income." We've also been hitting up plenty of farmers markets and road-side stands whenever we can to ensure we're getting our five-a-day.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-72K4Xou_TcQ/VEDHGwkLIBI/AAAAAAAABGo/nMF5tfUDIFc/s1600/20140930_182428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-72K4Xou_TcQ/VEDHGwkLIBI/AAAAAAAABGo/nMF5tfUDIFc/s1600/20140930_182428.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">P&amp;J on the Vancouver Island Ferry</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zdK9oU-WWV4/VEDINiskgKI/AAAAAAAABGw/KN8MRn8vMYw/s1600/20140926_095257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zdK9oU-WWV4/VEDINiskgKI/AAAAAAAABGw/KN8MRn8vMYw/s1600/20140926_095257.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roadside market on the Blackfeet Reservation</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K74uFfj3Fwk/VEDIjjLngNI/AAAAAAAABHI/qoV9d-AGfOM/s1600/20141001_103329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K74uFfj3Fwk/VEDIjjLngNI/AAAAAAAABHI/qoV9d-AGfOM/s1600/20141001_103329.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our tent in a Canadian provincial park</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jfbsHZoAvmA/VEDIadESMfI/AAAAAAAABG8/nL45-Fy34_Y/s1600/20141002_122811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jfbsHZoAvmA/VEDIadESMfI/AAAAAAAABG8/nL45-Fy34_Y/s1600/20141002_122811.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Market in Victoria on Vancouver Island</td></tr></tbody></table><br />And that brings us back full circle to our current location, Tucson, AZ.<br /><br />Greetings again. Blessings with the work and adventures life fills your days with. We look forward to our November layover in north Florida. Until then,<br /><br />Nathan, Man in Overalls<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--fy1gpME4Dc/VEDLi0uqY0I/AAAAAAAABHc/mJnQCu5wUV8/s1600/20140925_192437cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--fy1gpME4Dc/VEDLi0uqY0I/AAAAAAAABHc/mJnQCu5wUV8/s1600/20140925_192437cropped.jpg" height="320" width="186" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-49968704123866142782014-06-23T14:45:00.000-04:002014-06-23T14:58:08.350-04:00Local Gardening Store [Gramling's] is a Treasure: Letter to the Editor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FgAqiDE9BG8/U6h03GPOX5I/AAAAAAAAA9E/9BrrEhNAq0w/s1600/gramlings+05+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FgAqiDE9BG8/U6h03GPOX5I/AAAAAAAAA9E/9BrrEhNAq0w/s1600/gramlings+05+2014.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><i><br /></i><i>Tallahassee Democrat</i><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Sunday, June 15th 2014</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Dear Editor,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve been growing food since I was 8, when I became known as “that boy with the garden.” These days, folks know me as the “Man in Overalls.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Though I like watching things grow, gardening for me has always been about more than aesthetics. It’s a survival skill-set against hunger and food insecurity, something — thank God — I have not truly needed.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Starting when I was a child, I began visiting Gramling’s on South Adams Street for seeds, starts, organic fertilizer and environmentally safe pest products. They learned my name and watched me grow up. These days, when I stop by, Wayne, their store manager, greets me, “Overalls!” and then says, “Dirty deeds done dirt cheap,” under his breath. Every time. It still makes me smile.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I write, generally, to encourage us to spend our dollars locally, to invest in Main Street, to reclaim our hometown gems, to support the businesses that know our names. Specifically, I propose that we honor Gramling’s with our wallets. More than any person or institution I know, they have enabled us to preserve and further the art of food gardening. For Tallahassee’s health, for wealth, and for true food security and hunger prevention, we need Gramling’s around for another 99 years.<br /><br />[Pay them a visit or give them a ring: 1010 S. Adams Street/Tallahassee. 850.222.4812.]</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal">NATHAN BALLENTINE</div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-76551528763572078442014-06-16T11:36:00.001-04:002014-06-16T11:36:11.550-04:00Tallahassee Food Network Delegation to Represent at Jefferson Awards in D.C.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IogoYuxw658/U58MxEYOpJI/AAAAAAAAA8k/B6bARq_j2YI/s1600/Team+picture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IogoYuxw658/U58MxEYOpJI/AAAAAAAAA8k/B6bARq_j2YI/s1600/Team+picture.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although my expenses as Volunteer of the Year are paid for by the Tallahassee Democrat as the local media sponsor of the Jefferson Awards, the expenses of my fellow delegation travelers are not covered.&nbsp;Travel, lodging, and Jefferson Awards registration expenses amount to just over $4500. Please consider a donation. Any and all financial assistance is appreciated. Please make checks payable and send donations to Tallahassee Food Network's 501c3 fiscal agent: Wiley Sunshine Foundation, memo "TFN Delegation" to 1920 Chowkeebin Nene/ Tallahassee, FL 32301.</span></b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2014/06/12/nathan-balletine-represent-tallahassee-jefferson-awards-washington-dc/10384837/">"Nathan Ballentine to represent Tallahassee at the Jefferson Awards in Washington, D.C."</a></span><br />Reprinted from Tallahassee Democrat, 6/13/2014<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Individual awards don't really suit Nathan Ballentine's personality.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>He's a dedicated public servant, working tirelessly to create a culture of sustainability in Tallahassee, but he always insists he's just one part of an enthusiastic team. When he first heard he was nominated to receive the Tallahassee Democrat's Volunteer of the Year award in social/civic services, his original thought was, "Can I share this with everyone else?"</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Ballentine — commonly called "The Man in the Overalls" for his work with the Tallahassee Food Network and clothing style even at formal occasions — was named Volunteer of the Year in his category back in May, but he didn't stop there. He was also given the top honor at the awards luncheon, receiving the Jefferson Award for Public Service and a trip to Washington D.C.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Of course, he immediately started thinking of ways to bring the rest of the Tallahassee Food Network with him. The group will travel to D.C. Friday.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>"I'm especially excited because we're going to get to travel as a team," he said. "We work as a team in everything we do. We're really excited about representing at a national level and connecting with other volunteer organizations across the country and learning from them."</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>The Jefferson Awards Ceremony in D.C. brings together Jefferson Award winners from 110 media partners in 70 communities nationwide, according to the website for the awards. The award was created in 1972 and primarily goes to "unsung" community heroes.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Ballentine, 28, is the co-founder of the Tallahassee Food Network (TFN), a group that focuses on eliminating childhood obesity and creating community-based food systems. He's also a coordinator with the youth empowerment program iGrow Whatever You Like.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>He said he's hoping for a future that includes schools tending their own gardens, new statistics on childhood obesity and neighbors chatting about new recipes in an easy-to-access community garden.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>"I want to see an urban farm educational hub [at the iGrow Whatever You Like Youth Farm]," he said. "I want to see the Frenchtown Heritage Market have a permanent location that can be a thriving central market for the city that connects food and culture and economic development."</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>TFN also host's a monthly gathering called "Collards and Cornbread." The meeting is a chance for people to meet and discuss possibilities for a sustainable future.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br /></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>"We're a conduit for folks to connect, especially across racial, income and geographical lines," Ballentine said. "We believe everybody has something to bring to the table."</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br /></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>A team of TFN representatives is traveling with Ballentine to further spread the collective's message. Ballentine's wife, Mary Elizabeth Ballentine, will travel with him, along with iGrow director Sundiata Ameh-El and Clarenia White.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><i>"Our delegation's presence at the Jefferson Awards will provide greater incentive for our youth, our staff and our team to keep working hard because it pays off," Ameh-El said.&nbsp;</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br /></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>White agreed….”</i> For the rest of the article, <a href="http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2014/06/12/nathan-balletine-represent-tallahassee-jefferson-awards-washington-dc/10384837/">click to read it onTallahassee.com</a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-12090652214827866562014-05-27T15:04:00.001-04:002017-02-17T12:09:03.760-05:00Growing Forward: Who to Call in Tallahassee<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Apologies in advance for the length of this note. It is a resource of who's who info in light of my departure, so save it for another day if you don't have a few moments right now).</i></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DMsIB2WnrLg/U4TfW-nZLhI/AAAAAAAAA7M/Rpgx0eoqjps/s1600/planting+corn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DMsIB2WnrLg/U4TfW-nZLhI/AAAAAAAAA7M/Rpgx0eoqjps/s1600/planting+corn.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">A&nbsp;</span><a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/2011/03/just-finished.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">few years back</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">, I drafted a dream for a Tallahassee Center for Urban Agriculture:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><i style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">The&nbsp;Tallahassee Center for Urban Agriculture&nbsp;will serve as a hub of Tallahassee’s food movement, an incubator, a food “movement halfway house.” Akin to Milwaukee’s&nbsp;<a href="http://growingpower.org/headquarters.htm" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Growing Power</a>, Birmingham’s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.jvuf.org/index.php" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Jones Valley Urban Farm</a>, and Detroit area’s&nbsp;<a href="http://growinghope.net/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Growing Hope</a>. &nbsp;On a surface level, the Center will simply be a functioning urban farm: a farm in the heart of the city. If you take a second look, however, you’d see a institution funded via earned-income that will offer and coordinate an urban ag job training program for the unemployed, "Youth Grow" (i.e., GED ed + urban farming/food gardening training), a community workshop garden, community garden leadership development, school &amp; church garden incubation workshops, cooking classes, community nutrition initiatives, and roundtable discussions to explore policies that would magnify local efforts working to create community based food systems. The Center will be engaged&nbsp;in&nbsp;and engaging&nbsp;its host community. The Center could serve as a centralized farmers’ market location and a staging ground for a local food gardening business. Lastly, the Center will seek to partner with and facilitate the food movement dreams of other organizations, institutions and individuals.</i><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">I had a dream, and reality is better.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp;What we've got is an integrated movement, a mosaic of organizations, programs, and businesses making all this and more come to fruition. The growth over the past five to ten years of our community-based food systems and supporting efforts has been exponential. &nbsp;</span><a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">Tallahassee Food Network (TFN)</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://rhomarket.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">Red Hills Small Farms Alliance and Online Market</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.tallycope.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">COPE Coalition</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">, the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/tallyfrenchtownmarket" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">Frenchtown Heritage Market</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">,</span><a href="http://www.tallahasseefresh.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">Tallahassee Sustainability Group</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SeedTimeHarvestFarms" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">Seed Time Harvest Farms</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">, TFN's Good Food Directory (</span><a href="http://data.labins.org/tallahasseefoodnetwork/index.cfm" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">community garden listings now online</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">), the Youth Symposium on Food and Hunger, the&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.talgov.com/planning/planning-environ-gardening.aspx" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">city</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp;and</span><a href="http://www.leoncountyfl.gov/Sustainability/#" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">county's</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp;community garden programs, and TFN's&nbsp;</span><a href="http://facebook.com/igrowyouth" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;">iGrow Whatever You Like</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp;youth farm were all launched within the last five years. &nbsp;Add to these entities the countless producers connected with the markets, the dozens of organizations tied to COPE, the hundred-plus organizational affiliates of TFN, the food-based businesses that are on the rise, and the thousands of individuals and personal relationships that bind us together within and across organizational, network, race, income, neighborhood, age, political-affiliation, and gender lines.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">We have a movement on our hands.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">- - -</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Strangely, in my opinion, people think that my departure is profound enough to call this movement into question.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp;On the one hand, I am honored by the thought that I've had a large enough role in our good food movement that my presence in Tallahassee has mattered; that I'll be missed; that folks are making arrangements for me to serve as a traveling representative of TFN, so Tallahassee doesn't "lose" me.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">On the other hand, I am well-aware of two things: 1)The movement daily surprises me by its growth and impact, and I am but one player of many, hardly responsible for its breadth and depth. I'm confident it will continue to thrive without my presence in Tallahassee. &nbsp;2)</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">We have a team in place that will continue the work, so we shouldn't miss a beat.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Speaking of the team,&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">make a note of the below folks' names and their contact info.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp;Call them. Introduce yourself. Invite them to lunch. Email them with ideas, with questions, with opportunities. Ask them about their life experience, their work with TFN, their dreams. I could write pages about each one of them, but I'll spare you the details. Just know: they are incredible folks who - if they haven't already -&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">will inspire you.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Tallahassee Food Network staff team:</span></span><br /><ul style="background-color: white;"><li style="color: #555544; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:bakari.mcclendon@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Bakari McClendon</a>, coordinator (989.992.7513) ~ Go-to for "who's who," for grants, for partnership ideas, organizational oversight &amp; development. He will be linking up the network.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:edifymentoring@gmail.com" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #669922; line-height: 20.7999992370605px; text-decoration: none;">Sundiata Ameh-El</a><span style="color: #555544;"><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">, iGrow co-coordinator (850.497.4306) ~ Go-to for iGrow, for urban ag services including compost deliveries, raised beds, community gardens, youth education</span></span></span></li><li style="color: #555544; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:simohno@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Alexis Simoneau</a>, outreach coordinator (386.527.3914) ~ Go-to for website, newsletter, Community Food Report, publicity, outreach, sponsorships</span></li><li style="color: #555544; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:goldsmkm@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Kristen Goldsmith</a>, iGrow volunteer coordinator (419.356.9006) ~ Go-to for volunteer opportunities (short term and internships)</span></li><li style="color: #555544; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Edwige Toussaint, iGrow site manager (561.419.4886)</span></li><li style="color: #555544; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Clarenia White, iGrow workday chef and market staff (850.341.4385)</span></li><li style="color: #555544; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:mzkiffin@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Ebony Smith</a>, Finance Administrator (850 629 8665) ~ Go-to for TFN financials</span></li></ul><div style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">TFN Board of Directors</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><ul><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">TFN co-founder,&nbsp;<a href="mailto:mmiaisha@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Ms. Miaisha Mitchell</a>&nbsp;with Frenchtown Revitalization Council</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">TFN co-founder,&nbsp;<a href="mailto:projectfoodnow@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Dr. Qasimah Boston</a>&nbsp;with Project FOOD Now</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">TFN co-founder,&nbsp;<a href="mailto:candifl@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Ms. Joyce Brown</a>&nbsp;with Cultural Arts Natural Design International</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:gomezmichelle.e@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Shelley Gomez</a>&nbsp;with Knight Creative Community Initiative and Frenchtown Heritage Market Action Team</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:sbhansen100@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Sue Hansen</a>&nbsp;from Betton Hills Community Garden and New Leaf Market</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:chavez.m95@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Martin Chavez</a>, a former iGrow intern&nbsp;from Faith Presbyterian Church, TCC student</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:reggieglover3@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Reginal Glover</a>&nbsp;from Distinguished Young Gentlemen &amp; COPE Youth Health Leadership Council, recent graduate from Richards High</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Al Smith with Community Business Service</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Sandy Porras-Guitierrez from Florida Department of Children and Families</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Ed Duffee of Duffee Enterprises (aka the farm on Alabama Street)</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">And, of course, no listing of our team would be complete without TFN's following key partners:</span></div><div><ul><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:bellemyjhsd@embarqmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Mr. Jim Bellamy</a>, founder of the Frenchtown Heritage Market, President of Frenchtown Neighborhood Improvement Association</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:lottaivy@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Minister Charlotta Ivy</a>&nbsp;of Sowing Seeds Sewing Comfort Ministry - also the go-to for Manna on Meridian Garden</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:chefshac@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Chef Shacafrica Simmons&nbsp;</a>with Empowered by Food; continues to workshop and lay foundation for her N. Florida Culinary Incubator project</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:turkeyhill@earthlink.net" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Louise Divine</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="mailto:katiemh@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Katie Harris</a>, co-founders of Red Hills Small Farms Alliance (and online market) and&nbsp;<a href="mailto:smallfarmalliance@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Karen Goodlett</a>, RHO Market manager</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:seedtimeharvestfarms@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Cetta Barnhart</a>&nbsp;of Seed Time Harvest Farms</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Peter Kelly, Maurizio Bertoldi, and Jeff Phipps who comprise the Incubator Group</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:thomaswesleyshaffer@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Wes Shaffer</a>&nbsp;of Tallahassee Sustainability Group</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:betsyhen@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Betsy</a>&nbsp;and Nikki Henderson of Dent Street Diggers Community Garden, Hi Fi Jazz, &amp; Innovation Reality</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:kristi.hatakka@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Kristi Hatakka</a>, Portia Lundy, and&nbsp;<a href="mailto:marktancig@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Mark Tancig</a>&nbsp;with Damayan</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:anthony@gaudioenterprises.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Anthony Gaudio</a>&nbsp;with Sustainable Tallahassee,&nbsp;Knight Creative Community Initiative and Frenchtown Heritage Market Action Team</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="mailto:suewiley10@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Sue Wiley</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="mailto:bjaddison@msn.com" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Betty Addition</a>&nbsp;with the Wiley Sunshine Foundation</span></li></ul><div><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Let's not forget:</span></span></div><ul><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Lindsey Grubbs with Farm to School in FL Dept of Ag and Consumer Services, Food Nutrition and Wellness Division.</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">COPE Leadership Team: Sokoya Finch, Cynthia Harris, Penny Ralston, and Miaisha Mitchell</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Kathryn Ziewitz and Maggie Theriot in the Leon County Office of Resource Stewardship</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Cynthia Barber, John Baker, and Lisa Galocy in the City's Office of Environmental Policy and Energy Resources</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Patricia Byrd with the Macon Community Garden</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Courtney Atkins with Whole Child Leon&nbsp;</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Trevor Hylton with Leon County and FAMU Extension, and&nbsp;</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Claire Mitchell, co-founder of Ten Speed Greens and the garden advisor to the iGrow team when they were gardening at Second Harvest.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">*I am sure there are key folks that I've forgotten to list. The fault is my own. Just let me know. As I'm able, I will set the record straight.</span></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">- - -&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">As I make arrangements for my departure, I am struck with excitement about the capacity of our team and the many exciting developments that are in the works. Here's a heads up about a few things on the radar that you should listen out for:</span></div><div><ul><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The Frenchtown Heritage Market is in negotiations with a restauranteur and the Frenchtown-Southside Community Redevelopment Agency regarding the construction of a permanent central market for Tallahassee.</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Representatives from Tallahassee's SouthCity; Thomasville, GA; Sarasota, FL; and Americus, GA have either already commenced or plan to replicate the iGrow model in their communities.</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">TFN is in conversations with FDACS about ways that we can replicate TFN and iGrow models around the state.</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">TFN is going to continue coordinating and/or establish Farm-to-Table, urban gardening, and youth engagement working-groups to aid people in connecting with their good food movement peers</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Leon County Office of Resources Stewardship - in partnership with TFN, COPE, Red Hills and others -- have identified three priority areas for their office to assist community leaders in implementing: 1)A food hub, 2)farmer and consumer education in conjunction with the food hub, and 3)developing the Good Food Directory.</span></li><li style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">A team is in place including Bakari, Sundiata, Peter, Shac, and Alexis to ensure that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/#!collards/c1n3t" style="background: transparent; color: #669922; text-decoration: none;">Collards and Cornbread</a>&nbsp;continues every 2nd Thursday of the month, 1:30pm at the iGrow Youth Farm.</span></li></ul></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">And just so you know: Sundiata, Clarenia, my wife Mary Elizabeth, and I will be representing Tallahassee Food Network in Washington, DC June 16-18th at the Jefferson Awards. &nbsp;From there, Mary Elizabeth and I will be headed to Glacier National Park to work for the summer season. Following that, we will be embarking on a traveling adventure. &nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I plan to stay in touch, and come back through town semi-regularly.We are exploring ways that I could continue learning from and growing the good food movement by serving as a national/international TFN representative.&nbsp;More on that as it develops.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div></div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">I</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">n closing, as you have supported me, I simply request that you find ways to support TFN, its programs, partners; and that you continue to connect and grow the movement across lines of division.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Keep up the good work my friends,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Nathan</span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Me8srAwzXC0/U4Te6urUvhI/AAAAAAAAA7E/vcFAygo14GU/s1600/MIO+closeup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Me8srAwzXC0/U4Te6urUvhI/AAAAAAAAA7E/vcFAygo14GU/s1600/MIO+closeup.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br />Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-86441675532770930572014-05-08T13:12:00.002-04:002014-05-08T13:12:50.257-04:00The Adventure Continues<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3laeS63E54Q/U2P8jHudCFI/AAAAAAAAAqM/kq4_ETvwIDs/s1600/10247393_10154067815010082_6394349766350296426_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3laeS63E54Q/U2P8jHudCFI/AAAAAAAAAqM/kq4_ETvwIDs/s1600/10247393_10154067815010082_6394349766350296426_n.jpg" height="320" width="314" /></a></div><br />Last week, I was honored by Tallahassee Democrat as <a href="http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014305020018&amp;nclick_check=1">Volunteer of the Year</a>&nbsp;and given the Jefferson Award for Public Service, an honor that highlights my work, yes, but was certainly given based on the impact that our whole <a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.org/">Tallahassee Food Network</a> team is making in our work across lines of division to grow community-based good food systems. Much thanks to Nancy Miller and her aid SarahKeith Valentine who nominated me.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1bihvN7GHH4/U2P1z7U7VeI/AAAAAAAAAp4/InnUEpEAmhE/s1600/NBVolunteergroup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1bihvN7GHH4/U2P1z7U7VeI/AAAAAAAAAp4/InnUEpEAmhE/s1600/NBVolunteergroup.jpg" height="293" width="400" /></a></div><br />Sue Dick, President of the Tallahassee Chamber delivered the following words (prepared by Leslie Smith) at the Volunteer of the Year Luncheon:<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nathan Ballentine, co-founder and volunteer co-director of the Tallahassee Food Network has been working for local food security since 2009.&nbsp; Along with the Tallahassee Food Network, Nathan coordinates monthly Collards and Cornbread gatherings, facilitates the Community Garden Network Circle and Farm-to-Table team.&nbsp; Nathan has cultivated roughly 260 organizational partnership and 740 personal relationships among those organizations, which are being leveraged to grow community-based food systems.<u></u><u></u></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nathan strongly insists that he and his team work across lines of division and bring people with varied perspectives to the table, especially across race, neighborhood, and income lines given the community/network segmentation. He is also volunteer coordinator of iGrow Whatever You Like, Tallahassee Food Networks youth empowerment and urban agriculture program which is responsible for the Dunn Street Youth Farm.&nbsp; 17 young people were trained as urban agriculture leaders as part of iGrow’s Leadership Corps.&nbsp;&nbsp; Nathan says, “You help me, I’ll help you and we’ll all get further than we would by ourselves.”</span></i></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t7JbYuCxfjQ/U2P8i2Uq3ZI/AAAAAAAAAqI/cvvzj1JQuUc/s1600/10246681_10154069649780082_2899067623321799620_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t7JbYuCxfjQ/U2P8i2Uq3ZI/AAAAAAAAAqI/cvvzj1JQuUc/s1600/10246681_10154069649780082_2899067623321799620_n.jpg" height="268" width="320" /></a></div><br />Surprised and honored, I offered a few statements of thanks:<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Wow. You sketch out notes, but you never expect to use them. Wow. Thank you. Thank you, Nancy for the nomination. I'm grateful for the recognition that this award brings our team. My name is on the paper because this award highlights individuals, but this honor is for our whole team and key partners amidst the Tallahassee Food Network, who are working across lines of division to grow community-based good food systems. &nbsp;Thank you to my mother, Sue Wiley and father, Tom Ballentine who continue to model big picture thinking paired with bottom up grunt work. Thank you to my new wife, Mary Elizabeth who helps me workshop everything, who tolerates my schedule, who takes me on adventures. Thank you to Tallahassee Food Network. Thank you to my fellow board members, Miaisha Mitchell, Qasimah Boston, Joyce Brown, to the people who-- through under paid or unpaid entirely-- are functioning as staff, to the iGrow Whatever You Like team, to all the people who are both my co-workers and mentors. Thank's y'all for making it all possible, or being all-stars in my life, for allowing me to walk in the spotlight that rightfully belongs to us all for both our private and public work to grow and sustain a better world. It's an honor to run this race with y'all. Thank you for what you've done to support and shape me. Thank you for what you do and for all the reasons that your name should be in the hat for Volunteer of the Year. Thank you to the Tallahassee Democrat, to CenturyLink, and to all of you here. It's an honor to be recognized alongside so many amazing volunteers. Thank you.</span></i></span><br /><br />To extend that thanks even further, I'd like to thank you-- the folks reading this blog, folks who receive my e-newsletter, my community-partners, friends, and co-conspirators in the effort to grow a better world.&nbsp;Thank you. You've encouraged me, inspired me, challenged me, helped me pay my bills, workshopped programs, business models, and movement tactics. You've waded through meetings, shoveled compost, planted seeds, empowered young people, and cultivated community-based food systems with your creativity, sweat, and resources. You've been the threads of the food movement fabric of which I'm a part. Thank you for doing what you do. Keep up the good work.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />In what is perhaps the height of ironies, in twenty minutes I'll walk next door to participate in my last Collards and Cornbread Gathering for a while. At the beginning of June, my wife, Mary Elizabeth and I will embark on a traveling adventure for the coming year (or two). Though Tallahassee will always be my home, I will be laying my head elsewhere for the foreseeable future. &nbsp;If this is the first you're hearing of my departure, don't be too alarmed; I'll remain linked to Tallahassee. I'll simply be connecting and learning across a larger geographical arena. ...You can trust Ms. Miaisha Mitchell not to let me get too far.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wPGhyunnJwc/U2P1wQwJOcI/AAAAAAAAApw/Oz0ayXuIOsk/s1600/NBVolunteerCivic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wPGhyunnJwc/U2P1wQwJOcI/AAAAAAAAApw/Oz0ayXuIOsk/s1600/NBVolunteerCivic.jpg" height="320" width="264" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-59974815950509192902014-01-07T16:41:00.002-05:002014-01-07T17:42:20.681-05:00These Days, Money Grows on Trees<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2nkjPi1vz7c/UsxvlMX-gzI/AAAAAAAAAZg/M9YFWnTEYpw/s1600/House+on+Dunn+street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2nkjPi1vz7c/UsxvlMX-gzI/AAAAAAAAAZg/M9YFWnTEYpw/s1600/House+on+Dunn+street.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pecan trees gracing the D-Block skyline</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4722836916443502519" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4722836916443502519" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A couple mornings before Christmas, my neighbor, Ms. Evelyn came walking by. She had her "grandbabies" in tow, two young girls probably 8 or 9. Ms. Evelyn, is-- my best guess-- probably 70, 75. Bending over every couple steps, she was picking up pecans as she was doing every morning for the past several months. Word on the street is that the "Pecan Man" is paying 40 cents a pound this year. Where other folks pick them up at peak season or when a storm blows through, Ms Everlyn's at it every day, 9am. (Though her skin color is a darker hue, she reminds me a lot of my own grandmother who rummaged for aluminum cans. When I was a child the recyling plant offered $0.26/lb.) Some might call it a "side job," or "supplemental income," but here on Dunn Street, picking up pecans is just another "hustle."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I live in Greater Frenchtown. If you asked an old timer, they'd tell you the house I "stay in" is in Springfield, but folks these days just call the area "D-Block" after the many streets that start with "D," Dunn, Dent, Dewey, Delaware, Dover, and several others. I'm just around the corner from old Ashmore's Antiques, if you know where that is. Interestingly, Old Man Ashmore was famous for buying the kids' pecans in exchange for candy money "back in the day."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You might think Ms Evelyn's hustle is a rariety, but truth be told, she's part of an industry. Pecans don't go to waste in my neighborhood, and it's not (just) because folks around here like pecan pie. It's an indicator, in my opinion, of my neighborhood's economic health. More than one of my neighbors live without utilities. For a while a brother was filling up a 5-gallon bucket with water at the community garden for personal use. Another gentleman up the street pushes a soapy bucket of water around in an old wheelchair. He's a windshield-washing entrepreneur. Last time I saw someone washing windshields to earn a living was in third-world Mexico.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For the most part, the only jobs geographically available are those at externally owned businesses (Popeyes, Family Dollar, Timesaver). Typically pay is minimum or painfully close, and any wealth generated is removed to Tallahassee's outskirts at the best but more likely to corporate accounts far from town. But don't let me give the wrong impression: there aren't enough jobs to go around, even minimum wage jobs. So, how do folks make ends meet? &nbsp;They hustle.*<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A hustle is not a "real" job in the W-2 sense of the word, but a hustle can help patch up the economic gaps, put food on the table, keep the water running, provide the grandkids with Christmas presents. Having not one but two cars in my driveway (a sign of economic wealth around here), my doorbell is often rung by folks looking for a hustle. "Have you got any work I could do? &nbsp;I need a few dollars, so I can get some chicken for lunch. Anything helps, two, three dollars." &nbsp;I've hired folks to mow, rake, sweep, clean up my porch, and move brush. Kids get "little hustles" taking people's trash out. Next door, at the youth farm, folks stop by looking for hustles as well. They water, help build raised beds, weed, dig out stumps, shovel compost, anything that can justify a few dollars. Most hustles are temporary, provide daily survival income. Every once in a while, someone will find a hustle that repeats or lasts for a while, like a bumper pecan harvest. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">~ ~ ~<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mr. Bellamy, President of the Frenchtown Neighborhood Improvement Association has been coordinating the Frenchtown Heritage Market for the past three years. His hope is that it could remedy the lack of access to healthy food in the neighborhood, provide a community cultural space and economic center of exchange that would improve the financial health in the area by cycling dollars internally as well as bring in outside purchasing power<span style="background-color: white;">.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span><span style="color: black;">From what I see, the t</span>rick to true economic development in a depressed area* is to build off of what folks are already doing, what they have, what or who they have access to and/or what they are interested in. It's asset-based business development. In other words, it's transforming hustles into businesses. &nbsp;There is great potential. Pecans are but one food-based example.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />[*Truth be told: it's a great economic foundation wherever you are. Read the books by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ripples-Zambezi-Passion-Entrepreneurship-Economies/dp/0865713979" target="_blank">Ernesto Sirolli</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.postcarbon.org/person/36217-michael-shuman" target="_blank">Michael Shuman</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cities-Wealth-Nations-Jane-Jacobs/dp/0394729110" target="_blank">Jane Jacobs</a>.)</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Ms. Evelyn is earning forty cents a pound for her pecans. Meanwhile, pecan pieces are being sold at Publix, New Leaf, Winn Dixie for, conservatively, $10 a pound. Let's do a little math. Let's guess she picked up ten pounds every day for two months (a conservative guess). That's ~600lbs. At forty cents a pound, she made $240. Not a bad hustle. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's contrast this, however, with retail income. Let's imagine that half the weight that Ms Evelyn collects is shell or bad nuts, so we're assuming 300lbs of pecan pieces. 300lbs x $10/lb is $3000.&nbsp;Of course, there are expenses to shelling and packaging.&nbsp;I've heard from several sources that pecans can be "shelled and blown" for $0.50 to $1.25. &nbsp;Let's say it costs 0.50 for a zip lock, and you'd have to transport your nuts to and fro the shelling location. Thus, liberally, for shelling, packaging, and transport it would cost Ms Evelyn $1.25/lb for shelling, $0.50/lb for bags, $0.25/lb for gas, or $2 per pound.* Suddenly, with 300lbs of pecan pieces at $10/lb retail with $2/lb of value added processing expenses, Ms Evelyn is looking at $8/lb profit or $2,400. A much better hustle!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">[*Better yet, imagine for a moment that Ms Evelyn or someone else in the neighborhood owned the pecan processor! Then consider that they add further value to their pecans like <a href="http://www.koinoniapartners.org/catalog/index.html" target="_blank">Koinonea Partners.</a>]</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Now imagine for a moment-- because it's true-- that there are at least 15 equivalent Ms Evelyns collecting pecans in the neighborhood. Suddenly we're talking about $36,000 injected annually into a neighborhood by capitalizing on wealth that is, quite literally, falling from the sky.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As a food gardening entrepreneur and the start-up coordinator of the iGrow Whatever You Like Youth Farm, I'm surrounded by similar income projections for potential lettuce, collard green, bulk compost, and raised bed assembly hustles. Increasingly, I know the would-be entrepreneurs. My question is this:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Where are our&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wikipreneurship.eu/index.php5?title=Enterprise_facilitation" target="_blank">enterprise facilitators</a>? Where the people with an entrepreneurial spirit, a basic understanding of business finance, and a creative marketing mind who can hang at the iGrow Whatever You Like Youth Farm, in Frenchtown restaurants, groceries, and cafes and announce that they're available to "anyone with an idea" that they want to turn into a food-based business?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If you don't know about about Ernesto Sirolli's enterprise facilitation model, watch his TED Talk below. Tallahassee is ready for a food-based business economic renaissance. Current and would-be entrepreneurs just need team building and grunt assistance. <i>The harvest is plentiful...</i></span><br /><br /></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="303" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/chXsLtHqfdM" width="375"></iframe>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4722836916443502519.post-67522841432188553002013-06-14T04:23:00.000-04:002014-01-07T17:43:48.399-05:00A Word on our Local Food Economy<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: start;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Good folks,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">I've got a quick bunch of stories for you, a couple food garden pointers, and a (workshop) announcement.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold;">1.) Stories: When I've got a book to write and only got a page</span></div></div><div><div style="background-color: white;"><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The challenge every time I try to write a newsletter or blog is whittling down the list of possible stories to share. Living amidst the <a href="http://facebook.com/TallahasseeFoodNetwork" target="_blank">Tallahassee Food Network</a>&nbsp;(TFN), there is so much good work going on and so many dynamic stories to report. We need a documentary and journalism crew on the team just to capture all the stories: from the 75+ community gardens in town to the hundreds of youth that Qasimah Boston has trained in leadership and nutrition, from the Red Hills Tomato "Feastival" this past weekend to the wheat threshing/grinding demonstration today at the iGrow Youth Farm. And that's not to mention the many home gardeners who tell me their stories of family recipes, of&nbsp;their parents who planted by the moon, and their children who, "Just today!" harvested their own bell peppers and ate them "right, then and there." &nbsp;<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>(If you are a journalist or know someone who would be willing to lend their time to document food movement stories, please let me know).</i></span></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">To prioritize, I found myself inspired today by the open conversation at the TFN&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/384842304963790/" target="_blank">Collard and Cornbread Gathering</a>&nbsp;on Farm-to-Table Economic Development, so I'll share a few tidbits from my world in that arena:</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><ul><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep5ec8G4bzk/UbqqBgG0FYI/AAAAAAAAAJE/bBiCezBm8dw/s1600/Photo+2013-05-26+04.46.20+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep5ec8G4bzk/UbqqBgG0FYI/AAAAAAAAAJE/bBiCezBm8dw/s200/Photo+2013-05-26+04.46.20+PM.jpg" height="200" width="165" /></a><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://facebook.com/iGrowYouth" target="_blank">iGrow Whatever You Like</a>, TFN's youth empowerment and urban ag program has harvested over 1600lbs from their Dunn St Youth Farm and earned over $4000 from produce sales + another $3000 (this year, $14,000 total) from <a href="http://igrow-whateveryoulike.weebly.com/igrow-buckets.html" target="_blank">iGrow Bucket Sales</a>. Did I mention that&nbsp;iGrow teenagers are equipped to accept credit and debit cards using an iPad Ap? 21st Century farmers!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x-Gn2kVuhXs/UbrM-LQJgzI/AAAAAAAAAJs/gUkcCEESQsM/s1600/400461_322816501181928_1631755989_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x-Gn2kVuhXs/UbrM-LQJgzI/AAAAAAAAAJs/gUkcCEESQsM/s200/400461_322816501181928_1631755989_n.jpg" height="200" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>Sundiata</b>&nbsp;Ameh-El, my friend and iGrow colleague&nbsp;<b>launched</b>&nbsp;his&nbsp;<b>new compost pick-up service business,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.compostcommunity.org/" target="_blank">Compost Community</a>, </b>which takes&nbsp;the food economy full circle. He's working with both</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;individual households and restaurants. The finished compost generated is donated to area community gardens.</span></span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://rhomarket.com/" target="_blank">Red Hills Online (Farmers) Market</a>&nbsp;is doing more business than ever. Last week's sales were the highest they've ever been!&nbsp;</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Cetta Barnhart's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/SeedTimeHarvestFarms?fref=ts" target="_blank">Seed Time Harvest</a>, a&nbsp;local food distribution company is connecting rural growers who have crops going to waste with customers who want local, fresh produce.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wtxl.com/news/fresh-produce-delivered-to-your-front-door/article_cea92ee6-2aaa-11e2-a46a-0019bb30f31a.html#.ULce14wcUnF.facebook" target="_blank">She packages seasonal produce from half a dozen farmers</a>&nbsp;into CSA-like bags and delivers her orders weekly. Though she's web-savy (order forms are on googledocs), she's phone calling seniors to make sure they don't fall into the food economy digital divide.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Claire Mitchell and Danielle launched <a href="http://tenspeedgreens.com/" target="_blank">Ten Speed Greens Urban Farm</a>&nbsp;this past winter, and their farm (and business) is thriving: bike-delivered produce to local restaurants, workshops, farm t-shirts, potlucks; the "whole nine."</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Tallahassee Food Network and partners are <b>investigating a possible local food certification program</b> for local farmers as well as for restaurants and grocers who sell local products. The certification would ensure geographic "local-ness" as well as guarantee agricultural standards. With the proper branding, it would provide a marketing advantage to farm-to-table restaurants and other businesses who support the local food economy. Imagine walking into Publix to find a North Florida Grown or TallyFresh section. &nbsp;<a href="http://asapconnections.org/tools-for-farmers/appalachian-grown-certification/" target="_blank">Appalachian Grown</a>&nbsp;is a model we're looking into.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>Whole Foods</b> is <a href="http://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/news/whole-foods-market-hosting-local-supplier-fair-june-10" target="_blank">looking</a> for local suppliers; their goal is to source 25% of their produce locally.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">TFN needs more hands on deck to continue developing the <a href="http://tallahasseefoodnetwork.blogspot.com/p/local-food-directory.html" target="_blank"><b>Good Food Directory</b></a> that will help local folks find healthy, fresh, green, fair, and affordable food.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">People in the Tallahassee MSA (metropolitan service area) purchase $178million* of fruits and vegetables every year. We're talking hundreds (thousands!) of local jobs if we re-root our food economy in the region. (*figure is from the T/LC Econ Dev Council).</span></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The roots for a thriving local food economy are growing, but it's going to take all of us to develop it to its full potential. What's your piece?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div><h3><span style="color: #222222; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">2.) Food Garden Tips</span></h3><h3><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">If you're leaving on vacation for a while or otherwise don't want to be bothered with food gardening over the summer, plant sweet potatoes.&nbsp;(Man in Overalls YoutTube <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkdwsHCic9w" target="_blank">"How To"</a> video). Plant them anyway; they love the heat, block out the weeds, and serve as a living mulch. &nbsp;Speaking of which: mulch, mulch, mulch, 2" or 8". (Oak leaves are my favorite). Mulch does three things: it conserves water, blocks the weeds from growing, and regulates your soil temperature against the sun. Cooler, moister soil = healthier plants = fewer pests. (Come to the workshop, I'll explain :)</span></span></h3><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold;">1.)Workshop Announcement:&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oM157e6aHZE/Ubq0kvnnuvI/AAAAAAAAAJU/PyyNU9Qr_eg/s1600/2013+6+29+Summertime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oM157e6aHZE/Ubq0kvnnuvI/AAAAAAAAAJU/PyyNU9Qr_eg/s200/2013+6+29+Summertime.jpg" height="200" width="153" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/586865371346184/" target="_blank">Summertime Urban Farm Workshop</a></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></div><h3><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span></span></h3><h3><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">A workshop </span>taught by&nbsp;</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Man in Overalls<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">, Sundiata (Compost Community), Efrayim (Growing Green Gardens), and the iGrow Youth. </span>Learn to</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;grow food in the heat without headaches or heat exhaustion. 9-11am, Sat., June 29th at the iGrow Youth Farm (514 Dunn St). Registration is $20/Adults ($25 at the door), $5 for children and youth.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Sign up on </span><a href="http://fb.com/igrowyouth" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> or by </span><a href="mailto:igrow.whateveryoulike@gmail.com" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">email</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">. Workshop </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B2X1Edqzs6HGUEgyeEZvYnk0Yms" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Flier PDF</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></h3><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div></div><h3><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cBSJG0xW8sE/URG4Wido16I/AAAAAAAAFu4/iQiEM3WBmfk/s1600/Nathan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cBSJG0xW8sE/URG4Wido16I/AAAAAAAAFu4/iQiEM3WBmfk/s200/Nathan.jpg" height="200" width="113" /></a></h3><div><ul><ul></ul></ul><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: right;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;Happy growing and stay cool,&nbsp;</span></div></div><div style="text-align: right;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Nathan, the Man in Overalls&nbsp;</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><a href="http://igrow-whateveryoulike.weebly.com/igrow-buckets.html" target="_blank">iGrow Buckets and Raised Beds for sale online!</a></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://maninoveralls.blogspot.com/p/services.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">Magic Compost Mix</a>&nbsp;<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">delivery and topdressing, 1 yard for only $99&nbsp;+ tax&nbsp;</span></span></div></div><div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">PS- Food Garden Questions. <a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com" target="_blank">Email</a> or&nbsp;<a href="http://fb.com/maninoveralls" target="_blank">FB</a> me.</div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">***Sign up for semi-monthly updates from the Man in Overalls by&nbsp;<a href="mailto:maninoveralls@gmail.com" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">emailing me</a>&nbsp;with the subject line "Count Me In."</div></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div></div>Nathan Ballentine - Man in Overallshttps://plus.google.com/115357514662409786161noreply@blogger.com0